National Co-operative Organics Limited (NCOL) and Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board (UOCB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi in the presence of Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah. Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set a target to prepare the vast cultivable land of this country for organic farming. Today the movement for organic farming has reached an important stage.
Shah said that cooperatives have an important role in Prime Minister Modi's vision of making India the world's largest organic food-producing country. The Union Minister said that the Prime Minister has set the goal of doubling the income of farmers in the country and one of the two important points was to promote organic farming.
Shah said that today there is an awareness about organic products all over the world and there is a huge global market for the same. When we increase India's share by tapping this market, the share of our farmers in the profitable business of organic products and their income also increases.
He said that the health of the citizens of the country is also linked with organic farming. Chemicals that enter our body through the use of fertilizers cause many types of diseases. This has also reduced the quality of the land, so much so, that in many states the land has started becoming as hard as cement, due to which the risk of floods has also increased.
Shah said that on the contrary, with organic farming, the groundwater level increases, water is saved, production increases and the health of the consumer improves as well. Despite all these benefits, organic farming was not duly promoted. The Union Minister underlined that earlier there was no mechanism to check the quality of organic products and farmers did not get high prices. Also, there was hesitation in using these products.
To solve this issue, the Modi government established the National Co-operative Organics Limited (NCOL), he said, adding that Amul and NCOL together will establish a network of international level laboratories across the country which will examine both, organic land and products. Both these recognized institutions will provide reliable organic products to consumers as ‘Bharat’ and ‘Amul’ brands.
Shah said that now with the formation of NCOL, within a few years, we will ensure that all the profits from organic products directly go to the bank accounts of the producing farmers. He stated that it is possible only in a cooperative set-up. Shah said that in another 2 -3 years, products of ‘Bharat’ brand will cover all types of vegetarian food. The organic products of Bharat brand are reliable in terms of quality and organic property, and are inexpensive as the motive of cooperatives is not making money.
He said all profits from the organic products is going to increase the income of farmers of the country and added that all these objectives will be met through NCOL and soon ‘Bharat’ brand will become a trusted brand. Shah called upon farmers engaged in organic farming across the country to join with the NCOL. He said that all the organic rice, pulses and wheat produced by the farmers will be purchased by the government.
He said that in a short time, NCOL will create a smooth mechanism to send the profits directly to the bank accounts of the farmers. He said that a similar experiment in the dairy sector is successfully taking place all over the country today and crores of farmers are getting the profit of their dairy products directly in their bank accounts through cooperatives.
Shah said that Prime Minister Modi has set a target of making India the world's largest producer of organic food. For this, the Modi government has also created a cooperative society for the export of farmers' products, i.e. the National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL). Shah said that NCEL will take the ‘Bharat’ brand, being developed by NCOL, to the global market.
