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Ministry of Agriculture has declared Lakshadweep island as organic under participatory guarantee scheme
Key highlights
- After Sikkim, Lakshadweep has turned to 100% organic
- Lakshadweep’s agriculture department had submitted a proposal to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, seeking to declare its entire 32 square kilometre geographical land area as organic.
- Its proposal was approved in the month of October 2020 after receiving required certifications and declarations under Centre’s Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (organic farming improvement programme).
- In the month of September, Lakshadweep administration formally declared that its entire farming community was practicing organic agriculture and using organic inputs such as compost, poultry manure, green leaf manure.
- The UT was following organic or biological methods for plant protection as well.
- Lakshadweep administration had imposed a formal uniform ban on sale, use and entry of synthetic chemicals for agriculture purpose from October 2017 onwards to make the islands a chemical-free zone.
- As per the requirement of organic certification, no genetically modified organism is allowed to be used in the entire territory.
What is organic farming?
It is a production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, genetically modified organisms and livestock food additives.
To the maximum extent possible organic farming system rely upon crop rotations, use of crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off farm organic wastes, biofertilizers, mechanical cultivation, mineral bearing rocks and aspects of biological control to maintain soil productivity and tilth to supply plant nutrients and to control insect, weeds and other pests.
Participatory guarantee system (PGS) of India
- PGS-India (Participatory Guarantee System of India) is a quality assurance initiative that is locally relevant, emphasize the participation of stakeholders, including producers and consumers and operate outside the frame of third party certification.
- It is a decentralized Organic farming certification system
- “Participatory Guarantee Systems are locally focused quality assurance systems. They certify producers based on active participation of stakeholders and are built on a foundation of trust, social networks and knowledge exchange”.
- PGS is a process in which people in similar situations (in this case small holder producers) assess, inspect and verify the production practices of each other and take decision on organic certification (PGS-Green and PGSOrganic ).
About Lakshadweep
- India’s smallest Union Territory Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km.
- It is a uni-district Union Territory and comprises of 12 atolls, three reefs, five submerged banks and ten inhabited islands.
- The islands have a total area of 32 sq km. The capital is Kavaratti and it is also the principal town of the UT.
- All Islands are 220 to 440 km away from the coastal city of Kochi in Kerala, in the emerald Arabian Sea.
