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Chapter 6th - RURAL DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION - In India, majority of the poor people live in rural areas, where they do not
have access to the basic necessities of life. Around 22% of our total population still lives below
the poverty line.
▪ Agriculture, with maximum share of rural economy, has grown at a meager rate of 2.7 % in
the last fifty years. During 2007-12, agriculture output has grown at 3.2%
▪ The share of agriculture sector to GDP was on a decline and there has been increase in the
share of industrial and service sector. However, the population dependent on agricultural
sector did not show any significant change.
▪ Moreover, after the economic reforms of 1991, the growth rate of agriculture sector
decelerated to 3 % from 3.2% during 1991-2012, which was lower than the earlier years.
So, the real progress of India is possible only when rural areas and rural people are developed, so
that overall growth of India could be achieved.

MEANING OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development refers to continuous and comprehensive socio-economic process, attempting

to improve all aspects of rural life.

Why is rural development essential for Indian economic development?

Mahatma Gandhi has always maintained that real growth of economy does not lie in the growth
and development of industry urban economy but in the growth and expansion of rural economy.
The importance of rural development in India lies in the fact
a) In India, agriculture is the major source of livelihood in the rural sector with more than
2/3rd of India’s population still dependent on agriculture for livelihood. So development
of agriculture will contribute to the betterment of rural areas and rural people.
b) 1/3rd of rural population live in abject poverty.
c) Rural people account for ¾ of total population. However, they have always lagged much
behind the overall progress of the economy.
d) During 1991 -2012 the growth rate of agriculture sector has decreased from 3.2% to
around 3% per annum. Scholars identifies fall in public investment in agriculture since
1991 as the major cause behind it.
e) In recent years this sector has become volatile. During 2014 -15, the GVA growth of
agriculture and its allied sectors was less than one percent.
f) Scholars have also identified inadequate infrastructure development, lack of alternative
employment opportunities in the industry and service sector and increasing casualisation
of employment further reduced agriculture development.

key -issues in rural development (HELPD)

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Rural development refers to continuous and comprehensive socio-economic process, attempting

to improve all aspects of rural life. The major key issues of rural development are as follows:
1. (H) Human Resources development: The quality of the human resource needs to be
improved through various measures like proper attention to literacy (specifically on female
literacy), education and skill development and better and more affordable health facilities for
the physical growth.
2. (E) Expansion of the productive resource – It implies development of productive resources
of each locality to enhance opportunities of employment particularity other than farming.
3. (L) Land Reforms: It includes the objectives like elimination of exploitation in land
relations; actualization of the goal of ‘land to the tiller’, Improvement of socio-economic
conditions of rural poor by widening their land base and Increasing agricultural productivity
and production.
4. (P) Poverty reduction - Around 30 per cent of total rural population is still below the
poverty line. So, there is a serious need for taking serious steps for alleviation of poverty and
bringing significant improvement in living conditions of weaker sections.
5. (D) Development of Infrastructure: It involves: Improvement in electricity, irrigation,
credit, marketing and transport facilities (including construction of village roads and feeder
roads to nearby highways) and better facilities for agriculture research and extension and
information dissemination.

RURAL CREDIT: IMPORTANCE OF RURAL CREDIT

Growth of rural economy depends primarily on timely infusion of capital/credit, to realize higher
productivity in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. In agriculture, farmers are in strong
need for credit due to long gap between crop sowing and realization of income.
Farmers borrow from various sources to meet initial investment on seeds, fertilizers, implements
and other family expenses of marriage, death religious ceremonies, etc. So, credit is one of the
important factors, which contribute to agricultural production.

Credit needs of the farmers can be examined from two different angles

A. On the basis of Time:- On the basis of time, credit needs of the farmers can be classified
into three categories:
1. Short-term Credit: It refers to credit taken for a period of or less than 15 months, to meet
short-term needs like
• The loan taken to purchase seeds, fertilizers, paying wages to hired workers, etc.
• Such loans can be repaid out of current income of farmers.
2. Medium-term Credit: It refers to credit taken for medium period, ranging from 15 months
to 5 years. Such loan is required for;
• Productive activities, like purchasing cattle, agricultural implements, etc.
• Unproductive activities, like expenditure on marriage, social or religious functions.

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3. Long-term Credit: It refers to credit taken to meet long-term needs, for a period of more
than 5 years and may extend to a period of 15 to 20 years. Such loans are repaid over a long
period of time. Long-term loans are needed for:
❖ Making permanent improvements on land
❖ Digging tube wells
❖ Purchase of larger agricultural implements and machinery like tractors, harvesters;
❖ Repayment of old debts.

B. On the basis of Purpose

Agriculture credit needs of the farmers on the basis of purpose can be classified into the
following two categories;
1. Productive Loans: Productive Loans refer to the loans which help the farmers in raising
agricultural production and productivity. For example, loans taken to purchase seeds,
fertilizers, farm implements or for making permanent improvements on land.
2. Unproductive Loans: Unproductive loans after to the loans which do not help to raise
agricultural production and productivity. For example, loans taken for religious ceremonies,
marriage, supporting family in times of crop failure, setting old debts, etc.

SOURCES OF RURAL CREDIT

A. Non-Institutional Sources
Non-Institutional sources have been the traditional sources of agricultural credit in India. The
major non-institutional sources are;
1. Moneylenders: From the very beginning, moneylenders have been advancing a major share
of farm credit. The peasants are exploited through exorbitant (very high) rates of interest.
Quite frequently, their accounts are manipulated without their knowledge.
2. Relatives: Cultivators borrow funds from their own relatives in times of crisis. These loans
are a kind of informal loans and carry no interest and are normally returned after harvest.
3. Traders and Commission agents: They provide credit to the peasants on the mortgage of
crops at high rates of interest, on a condition, that the crops will be sold to them at low prices.
4. Rich Landlords: Small as well as marginal farmers and tenants, take loans from landlords,
for meeting their financial requirements. Landlords also charge high rates of interest on such
loans and exploit the peasants, particularly small farmers and tenants.

B. Institutional Sources:-
The various non institutional sources used to exploit small and marginal farmers by lending to
them on high interest rate and by manipulating accounts to keep them in debt trap. A major
change occurred in 1969, when India adopted the institutional credit approach through various
categories. Some of the important institutional sources of agricultural credit are:
1. Co-operative Credit: The primary objective of the co-operatives is to liberate the Indian
peasantry from the clutches of moneylenders and provide them credit at low rates of interest.

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2. Land Development Banks: They provide credit to the farmers against the mortgage of their
lands. Loans are provided for permanent improvement of land, purchasing large agriculture
implements and for repaying old debts.
3. Commercial Bank Credit: Initially, commercial banks played a marginal role in advancing
rural credit. However, after nationalization in 1969, they expanded their branches in rural
areas and started directly financing the farmers.
4. Regional Rural Banks: They are opened up in those areas where there are no banking
facilities. Their main objective is to provide credit and other facilities, especially to small and
marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, artisans and small entrepreneurs in rural areas.
5. The Government: The loans provided by the government are known as taccavi loans and
are lent during emergency or distress, like famines, floods, etc. The rate of interest charged
against such loan is as 6 %
6. National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD): It is the Apex Bank
of rural credit which was set up on 12th July, 1982 by an act of parliament.
• It coordinates the functioning of different financial institutions, working for
expansion of rural credit.
• Besides providing credit to financial institutions, NABARD also provides financial
assistance to the non-farm sector to promote integrated rural development and
prosperity of backward rural areas.
7. Self-Help Group (SHG): SHG has emerged as the major micro finance programme in the
country in recent years because formal credit delivery system has proved inadequate for rural
economy since some sort of collateral is required to avail loan, as a result vast proportion of
poor households are already out of the credit network. Therefore
▪ Their focus is largely on those rural poor, who have no sustainable access to the formal
banking system. So, their target groups comprise of small and marginal farmers,
agricultural and non-agricultural labourers, artisans etc.
▪ SHGs promote thrift in small proportions by a minimum contribution from each
member.
▪ From the pooled money, credit is given to the needy members at reasonable interest
rates, which is to be repaid in small installments.
▪ By March 2003, more than 7,00,000 SHGs had reportedly been credit linked.
▪ SHGs have also helped in the empowerment of women.
▪ However SHGs are criticized that such loans are generally used for unproductive
purposes rather than productive purposes.

Critical evaluation of rural credit system

Formal rural credit system comprise of Regional rural banks, commercial banks, NABARD etc.

Some of the Positive changes of rural credit system can be highlighted as follows

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1. Rapid expansion of the rural banking system helped to increase output, income and
employment of both rural farm and non-farm. After the green revolution, credit facilities
have helped farmers to avail variety of loans for meeting their production needs.
2. With buffer stocks of grains, famines became events of the past and we have achieved
food security and food sufficiency.

Some of the negative aspects of rural credit system can be highlighted as follows (OIL)

1. (O) Over dues concerns: Agriculture loan default rates have been chronically high. The
basic reason for growing over dues is the poor repaying capacity of farmers. Moreover, 50
per cent of the defaulters were categorized as ‘willful defaulters’. As a result credit agencies
are becoming cautious of granting loan to farmers which is a threat to the smooth
functioning of rural banking system and needs to be controlled.

2. (I) Inadequate Amount of Sanction: The amount of loan sanctioned to the farmers is also
inadequate. As a result, farmers often divert such loans for unproductive purposes, which
dilute the very purpose of such loan.

3. (L) Less attention to poor or marginal farmers: Lesser attention has been given on the
credit requirements of needy (small and marginal) farmers due to lack of collateral such
needy farmers are generally rejected credit from banks and other institutions sources. On the
other hand, well-to-do farmers are getting more attention due to better credit worthiness.

4. Failure of financial institutions: Except the commercial banks, other formal institutions
failed to develop a culture of deposit mobilization, lending to needy borrowers and effective
loan recovery
Thus, the expansion and promotion of the rural banking sector has taken a backseat after
economic reforms.
To improve the situation: (Solution)
• Banks need to change their approach from just being lenders to building up relationship
banking with the borrowers; and
• Farmers should also be encouraged to inculcate the habit of saving and efficient
utilisation of financial resources.
• To improve the situation, in recent years, all the adults are encouraged to open bank
account as a part of a scheme JHAN HAN YOJNA.

KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT

TAMIL NADU WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE (TANWA) is a project initiated in Tamil Nadu

to train women in latest agricultural techniques.
▪ It induces women to actively participate in raising agricultural productivity and family
income.
▪ Women are forming “Farm Women’s Groups”, which function like SHG.

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▪ Many other Farm Women’s Groups are creating savings in their group by functioning
like mini banks through a micro- credit system.
▪ With the accumulated savings, they promote small-scale household activities like
mushroom cultivation, soap manufactures, doll making or other income - generating
activities.
Kudumbashree – It is a women oriented community based on poverty reduction programme
being implemented in Kerala. In 1995 a thrift and credit society was started as a small saving
bank for poor women with the objective to encourage savings. The thrift and credit society
mobilized Rs 1 Cr as thrift savings. These have been acclaimed as the largest informal banks in
Asia in terms of participation and savings mobilized.

Nationalization of banks in 1969

Nationlisation refers to the transfer of private sector assets to be operated or owned by the state
or central government. In India, the banks which were previously functioning under private
sector, were transferred to the public sector by the act of Nationalisation in 1969.
• The banks were nationalised because the banks were mainly catering to the needs of big
business houses and large industries, while agriculture and small scale industries were
lagging behind
• The loans by commercial banks to industry doubled between 1951-1968 from 34% to
68%, even as the agriculture received less than 2%
• So in order to increase the control over commercial banks, the Indian government
nationalized 14 major commercial banks in 1969 that accounted for 85% of banks
deposits in country at that time
• Six more banks were nationalized in 1980.

AGRICULTURAL MARKET SYSTEM

Agricultural marketing is a process that involves assembling, storage, processing, transportation,

packaging, grading and distribution of different agricultural commodities across the country.

Mention the some problems that hinder the mechanism of Agricultural Marketing.
Or
What was the need to regulate agriculture marketing by the govt. after independence?

Agriculture market was needed to be regulated due to following reasons

▪ Manipulations by Big Traders: Prior to independence, farmers suffered from faulty
weighing and manipulation of accounts while selling their produce to traders.
▪ Lack of Market Facilities (asymmetric information): Farmers were often forced to sell at
low price due to lack of required information on prices prevailing in markets.
▪ Lack of Storage Facilities: They also did not have proper storage facilities to keep back
their produce for selling later at a better price. Even today, more than 10 per cent of goods
produced in farms are wasted due to lack of storage.

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Due to the above mentioned reasons farmers were forced to sell food grains at low prices than
market prices which is called distress sell. Therefore, government intervention became necessary
to regulate the activities of the private traders as majority of trading in farm take place through
private traders. However, some scholars argue that commercialization of agriculture offers
tremendous scope for farmers to earn higher incomes provided the government intervention is
restricted.
Explain the steps taken by the Government in developing rural markets (NCERT)
Or
Do you think that various measures taken by the govt. to improve agriculture marketing
are sufficient? Discuss.

The steps taken by the government in developing rural markets and overcoming the problem of
distress sale (when food grains are sold at low prices than the market price) include the following
measures:
1. Regulated Markets: The first measure was regulation of markets to create orderly and
transparent marketing conditions. Regulated markets have been organised with a view to
protecting the farmers from the malpractices of sellers and brokers. This policy benefitted
both the farmers as well as the consumers.
Drawbacks:- There is still a need to develop around 27,000 periodic markets as regulated
market places to realize the full potential of rural markets

2. Infrastructural Facilities: The Government aims to provide physical infrastructure facilities

like credit facilities, roads, railways, warehouses, God owns, cold storages and processing
units.
Drawbacks - Due to inadequate institutional agriculture credit, Indian farmers are forced to sell
their produced immediately after harvest to pay off the loan amount taken from money lenders.
Storage facilities are still highly inadequate to meet growing demand and needs to be improved
As even today, more than 10 per cent of goods produced in farms are wasted due to lack of
storage.
3. Cooperative Marketing: The aim of cooperative marketing is to realize fair price for
farmer’s products. Under this, marketing societies are formed by farmers to sell the output
collectively and to take advantage of collective bargaining, in order to obtain better price.
They also provide them credit which helps farmers in satisfying their immediate cash needs,
cooperatives offer storage facilities which help farmers to wait for the correct price for their
produce. The success of milk cooperatives in Gujrat and other states is a testimony of
cooperatives.
Drawbacks - Cooperative markets have received a set- back in recent years due to lack of
appropriate links between marketing and processing cooperatives, inefficient financial
management and inadequate coverage of farmers members.

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4. Different policy Instruments: In order to protect the farmers, the government has initiated
the following policies:
▪ Minimum Support Prices (MSP): To safeguard the interest of farmers, government
fixes the minimum support prices of 24 agricultural products, like wheat, rice, maize,
cotton, sugarcane, pulses, etc.
▪ Maintenance of Buffer Stock: The Food Cooperation of India (FCI) purchases wheat
and rice at the procurement prices, to maintain buffer stock. It helps to ensure regularity
in supply and stability in prices.
▪ Public Distribution System (PDS): Fair price shops offer essential commodities like
wheat, rice, kerosene, etc. at a price below the market price, to the weaker sections of
the society.
Drawbacks - However despite government intervention in the form of PDS, buffer stock etc.,
private trade by money lenders, big merchants and rich farmers predominance agriculture
market. The quantities of agriculture products handled by government agencies and consumer
cooperatives constitute only 10%, rest is handled by private traders.

Alternative channels available for agricultural marketing

(i) Farmers Market: The concept of farmer’s market has been started to give boost to the
small farmers by providing them direct access to the consumers and eliminating the
middlemen. Some examples of these channels are:
▪ Apni Mandi in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan;
▪ Hadaspar Mandi in Pune;
▪ Rythu Bazars in Andhra Pradesh; and
▪ Uzhavar Sandies (farmers market in Tamil Nadu).

(ii) Alliance with National and Multinational Companies: Several national and
multinational fast food chains are increasingly entering into contracts/alliances with
farmers.
▪ They encourage the farmers to cultivate farm products (vegetables, fruits, etc.) of the
desired quality.
▪ They provide them with not only seeds and other inputs, but also assure procurement
of the produce at pre-decided prices.
▪ Such arrangements help in reducing the price risk of farmers and expand the market
for farm product

DIVERSIFICATION OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES

Agriculture diversification: Agriculture diversification involves two things

1. Change in cropping pattern: farmers are shifting from growing one crop to a multiple
variety of crops. For example, from growing food crops, to cash crops or commercial crops
(like sugarcane, cotton, jute, oilseeds, etc.).

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2. Shifting of labor-force from the farming to the non-farm sector:- To increase agricultural
income labour force is to diversify from farm area into non-farm areas like animal husbandry
and dairying, fisheries, horticulture, agro-processing and food processing industries, etc.

Important points
❖ Food grains are the grains grown for human food like wheat, rice, maize, pulse etc
❖ Cash crops are grown for direct sale in the market rather than for family consumption or
to feed livestock like cotton, jute, coffee, sugarcane etc
❖ Subsistence farming is the practice of growing crops only for one’s own use without any
surplus or trade

Benefits of agriculture diversification

Or
Why agriculture diversification is essential for rural economy?

The benefits of agriculture diversification can be highlighted through following points

(RISE)
1. Risk reduction: - agriculture diversification is important not only to reduce risk of
dependence exclusively on farming for livelihood but also to provide sustainable productive
alternative livelihood options to rural people.
2. Increasing income :- It helps in increasing income of rural people by providing additional
opportunity of employment and income generation.
3. Seasonal Factor:- Most of the agricultural employment opportunities in India are restricted
to the kharif season. During the Rabi season in areas where there are limited irrigation
facilities, it becomes difficult to find gainful employment and realizing higher level of
income for rural people. Diversification helps in providing employment opportunities during
off season time.
4. Employment - Agriculture is overcrowded and therefore there is a need that a large
proportion of growing labour force find employment in non-farm sector

NON-FARM AREAS OF EMPLOYMENT

Animal Husbandry and Dairying

Animal Husbandry: is that branch of agriculture, which is concerned with the breeding, rearing
and caring for farm animals. It is also known as Livestock population
Contribution
▪ Livestock production provides increased stability in income, food security, transport, fuel and
nutrition for the family.
▪ Today, Livestock sector alone provides alternative livelihood options to over 70 million
small and marginal farmers, including landless labourers.
▪ A significant number of women also find employment in the livestock sector.
▪ Poultry accounts for the largest share of 58 per cent (old data of NCERT) as per latest data of
NCET (61%) of livestock population
▪ Other animals which include Cattle and Buffalos account for 24%, Sheeps and Goats for
16%, Pigs 1% and camels, asses, horses, Mules etc account for only 1 percent.

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Problems of animal husbandry and solution

India had about 300 million cattle, including 108 million buffaloes, in 2012. Though in terms of
numbers, our livestock population is quite impressive but is productivity is quite low as
compared to other countries
Solution
a) It requires improved technology and promotion of good breeds of animals to enhance
productivity
b) Improved veterinary care and credit facilities to small and marginal farmers and landless
labourers would increase livelihood options.

Dairying: It is that branch of agriculture which involves breeding, raising and utilization of dairy
animals for the production of milk and the various dairy products from it.
Operation Flood or White Revolution: was started by National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) in 1970 under the expert guidance of then chairman, Dr. Verghese Kurien. Due to
successful implementation of operation flood India has become number one in milk production
in the world. Milk production in the country has increased 8 times (old data) as per new data (10
times) between 1951 -2016
❖ Under the Operation Flood System, all the farmers pool their milk produce according to
different grades and same is processed and marketed to urban centers through cooperatives.
The farmers are assured of a fair price and income from the supply of milk to urban
markets.
❖ Gujarat state is held as a success story in the efficient implementation of milk cooperatives,
which has been followed by many states.

2. Horticulture and its role in economic development

Horticulture refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, tuber crops, flowers,
medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and plantation crops.
Contribution of Horticulture
1. The period of 1991-2003 is known as ‘Golden Revolution’ because during this period, the
planned investment in horticulture became highly productive and this sector emerged as a
sustainable livelihood option and India has emerged as a world leader in producing a variety
of fruits, like mangoes, bananas, coconuts, cashew nuts and a number of spices.
2. Horticulture contributes 1/3 of agriculture output and 6% of GDP of India.
3. Economic condition of many farmers engaged in Horticulture has improved and it has
become a means of improving livelihood for many unprivileged classes too.
4. Flower harvesting, nursery maintenance, and food processing are highly remunerative
employment options for women in rural areas.
Requirements for improving the role of horticulture
a) Investment in infrastructure like electricity
b) Small cold storage facilities
c) Marketing linkage
d) Small scale processing units

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3. Fisheries
a) The fishing community regards water bodies as ‘mother or provider’ as water bodies are
integral and life giving source for fishing community.
b) In India, after progressive budgetary allocation and improvement in technology used in
fishing and aquaculture fishing has come long way.
c) Fishing contributes 0.9% (as per old data 0.8% as per old NCERT data) of India’s
GDP.
d) A significant number of women find employment in fishing. 60 percent of workforce of
export marketing and 40 percent in internal marketing are women
e) Presently fish production from inland sources contributes about 65% to the total fish
production and 35% is contributed by marine sources (sea and oceans).
Problems of fishing sector
a) A large share of fish workers families is poor.
b) Widespread underemployment and low per capita earnings.
c) Absence of mobility of labour to other sectors and a high rate of illiteracy and
indebtedness are some of the major problems faced by fishing community.
Solution
a) There is a need to increase credit facilities through cooperatives and SHGs for
fisherwomen to meet the working capital requirements for marketing
b) Problems related to overfishing and pollution needs to be regulated and controlled.
c) Welfare programmes should be reoriented in a manner which can provide long term
benefits

4. Information technology

IT now plays an important role in the agricultural sector of the developed countries. With the
passage of time, it is likely to become more and more important in Indian agricultural sector as
well.
1. Using appropriate information and software tools, govt. can predict the areas of food
insecurity and vulnerability and necessary steps can be to taken to prevent or reduce the
likelihood of an emergency
2. IT has also important affect on agriculture sector as it can provide information regarding
upcoming new technologies of production, prices, weather and soil quality for growing
different crops
3. It also has potential to generate employment in rural areas.

Adaptation of Villages by parliamentarians

In October 2014, The Government of India introduced a new scheme called Saansad
Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)
▪ Under this scheme, Members of India’s Parliament need to identify and develop one
village from their constituencies.
▪ To begin with, MPs can develop one village as a model village by 2016, and two more by
2019, covering over 2,500 villages in India.
▪ According to the scheme, the village can have a population of 3,000 – 5,000 in the plains
and 1,000 – 3,000 in the hills and should not be MPs’ own or their spouse’s village.

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▪ MPs are expected to facilitate a village development plan, motivates village to take up
activities and built infrastructure in the areas of health, nutrition and education

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIC FARMING

(NOT IN SYLLABUS FOR TERM I)

Q1. State the harmful effects of the conventional agriculture which relies heavily on
chemical fertilers and toxic pesticides.
Ans. Conventional agriculture relies heavily on chemical fertilsers and toxic pesticides etc which
Enter the food supply, penetrate the water sources, harm the livestock, deplete the soil and
devastate natural eco-systems.

Q2. What is organic farming and how does it promote sustainable development?
Ans. Organic farming refers to that system of farming which sustains health of soil, ecosystem
and people. Organic farming promotes sustainable development because of following reasons
a) It focuses more on the use of locally produced organic inputs that are cheaper and good
substitutes of expensive and harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
b) It maintains soil health rather than plant health so that farming becomes sustainable
c) It maintains and enhances ecological system by using organic inputs

Q2. Enlist some problems faced by farmers during the initial years of organic farming.
or
Identify the benefits and limitations of organic farming.
Ans. Some of the problems faced by farmers during the initial years of organic farming are:
(i) In the initial years, Organic farming has a lesser yield as compared to modern
agricultural farming. As a result, small and marginal farmers find difficult to adapt to
large-scale production.
(ii) Organic farming faces problems of inadequate infrastructure and marketing facilities.
(iii) Organic produce has a shorter shelf life and more blemishes as compared to sprayed
produce.
(iv) The choice in production of off-season crops is quite limited in organic farming.
Benefits
a) It focuses more on the use of locally produced organic inputs that are cheaper and are
good substitute of costlier agriculture inputs like HYV seeds, chemical fertilizers etc.
b) It maintains soil health rather than plant health so that farming becomes sustainable
c) It maintains and enhances ecological system as then output is pesticide free and grown
in environmentally sustainable way.
d) It provides more nutrient food in comparison to chemically grown food
e) It generates income through international exports
f) Generates more employment since organic farming requires more labour input than
conventional farming.
a) Organically produced Cotton in Maharashtra
In 1995, Kisan Mehta of Prakruti (an NGO) first suggested that cotton, which uses maximum
chemical pesticides, could be grown organically. At present, 130 farmers have committed 1,200
hectares of land to grow cotton organically on the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movement’s standards.

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