CHANDIGARH: Among all the states in the country, Punjab has the lowest number of 262 farmers practising organic farming under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS India) and just 367 have registered for the National Programme for Organic Production(NPOP) in TraceNet under third party certification. This data was shared by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the ongoing Parliament session.
A total of 11.92 lakh farmers in the country are practicing organic farming under PGS India and 16.02 lakh have registered in TraceNet under third party certification of the NPOP. Uttarakhand has the highest number of over 3.01 lakh farmers practicing organic farming under the PGS India scheme, followed by over 1.70 lakh in Rajasthan and over 1.63 lakh in Uttar Pradesh. A budget of Rs 650 crore is allocated for the 2021-22 financial year to promote organic or bio-input based organic farming in the country.