Source: Press Information Bureau
About the scheme
- The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), launched in 2015, is an extended component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
- PKVY aims at supporting and promoting organic farming, in turn resulting in improvement of soil health.
- The scheme promotes Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) for India (PGS- India) form of organic certification that is built on mutual trust, locally relevant and mandates the involvement of producers and consumers in the process of certification. (PGS – India operates outside the framework of “Third Party Certification) ”.
- Funding pattern: It is in the ratio of 60:40 by the Central and State Governments respectively. In case of North Eastern and Himalayan States, Central Assistance is provided in the ratio of 90:10 (Centre: State) and for Union Territories, the assistance is 100%.
- Target: The Scheme targets to form 10,000 clusters of 20 ha each and bring nearly two lakh hectares of agricultural area under organic farming by 2017-18
Objective
The objective is to produce agricultural products free from chemicals and pesticides residues by adopting eco- friendly, low- cost technologies. Key Thrust areas of PKVY in promoting organic farming include the following:
- Promote organic farming among rural youth/ farmers/ consumers/ traders
- Disseminate latest technologies in organic farming
- Utilize the services of experts from public agricultural research system in India
- Organize a minimum of one cluster demonstration in a village
Approach
The scheme is implemented in a time frame of three years in line with the PGS-India’s prescribed conversion period of 36 months from conventional farms to organic
Key features of the scheme
- The cluster chosen for Organic Farming shall be 20 ha or 50 acres in extent and in as contiguous a form as possible.
- Total financial assistance available for a 20 ha or 50 acre cluster shall be a maximum of Rs. 10 lakhs for farmer members and Rs. 4.95 lakh for mobilization and PGS Certification with a subsidy ceiling of one hectare per farmer .
- Of the total number of farmers in a cluster, a minimum of 65 percent farmers should be allocated to small and marginal category, to be fulfilled at cluster level as far as practicable and where not possible to be satisfied at Mandal/Block/ Taluka or District level.
- At least 30% of the budget allocations need to be earmarked for women beneficiaries/ farmers
Key components
Model Organic Cluster Demonstrations:
- Model Organic Cluster Demonstrations aim at boosting/ promoting organic farming among rural youth/ farmers/ consumers/ traders by creating awareness on the latest technologies of organic farming. These are conducted at the farmer’s field in clusters of 20 ha or 50 acres under PKVY
- Implementing Agencies (IAs) primarily are the Zonal Councils7 of National Centre for Organic Farming (NCOF), Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) registered Regional Councils (RCs) and other Public Sector Organisations of DAC & FW
Model Organic Farm:
- The Model Organic Farm aims at demonstrating conversion of conventional land into organic farming practices in one hectare parcels. This is to spread the information on the latest technologies of various units of organic inputs production through exposure visits to farmers.
- As several of the central and state government organisations and other public sector organisations have their own farms for demonstration of technologies in various farming practices, these institutions shall develop model Organic Farms.
- Maximum three model organic farm demonstrations shall be allocated to each organisation with a minimum of one farm in one institution in one year
