Organically cultivated joha rice for German exhibition

GUWAHATI, January 21: Keeping pace with the rapid strides in the field of general agriculture in Assam, organic farming too has come of age in the State. This has the potential of opening up the doors of foreign markets, particularly Europe, where consumption of organically grown foodstuff is currently the rage. Organically cultivated joha rice from Assam will be one of the prized exhibits from India at the world-level Bio Fach-2001 that is to be held at Nurumberg, Germany, from February 15 to 18. Bio-Fach is an exclusive exhibition of organic food and drinks, farm shop supplies, natural cosmetics, detergents and cleaning agents, textiles, toys, etc. Exhibitors and visitors to the fair, since 1990, have been taken with the successful mixture of high quality product displays, meetings with important trading partners, up-to-date information at the recognised congress and a host of other events. Bio-Fach is a must for anyone seriously concerned with organic market. The credit for taking Assam's joha rice to the fair goes to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an agency under the Ministry of Commerce, which had launched a project for the development of model organic farms for a few selected agricultural and horticultural commodities. Accordingly, model farms were set up for pineapple (Sonamura, Tripura), passion fruit (at Mao, Manipur), sugarcane (at Sipajhar, Assam) and joha rice (also at Sipajhar). The model organic farms, co-ordinated by selected local NGOs through the farmers who own the land, were financed partly through subsidies from APEDA and partly from loan from the Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi (RGVN). The technical consultant for the project is Biotech Consortium India Ltd, Kolkata. While the other selected crops in the model farms are in different stages of development, joha rice from Assam is ready. "We have already harvested the rice from the organic farm," said APEDA field officer for the Northeast Bidyut Barua who is based here. The rice will be taken to Germany alongwith other organically grown crops from India. APEDA has already booked space in the India pavilion and it plans to give wide exposure to all the certified organic food products. "It is a very important event where all countries take part," said Barua. APEDA has also planned a seminar at the site of the fair to project the Government of India's efforts in formulating the national organic policy and programmes. Invitations have been sent to all leading importers of organic products to visit the India pavilion. The demand for organic food products has been increasing at a very fast pace and buyers look to India as a potential source of supplies in view of the vast virgin land and the traditional farm practices adopted in the country. The European market alone has grown at an average of 25 per cent annually in the last decade. The Centre has already notified the National Programme for Organic Production to promote organic cultivation in India. APEDA has taken special initiative in the Northeast since the innovation of modern agriculture is very limited. According to Barua, foreign buyers will be invited to the region to have a first-hand look at the organic farms. It could well prove to be a milestone in the region's economic development efforts.