State mulling organic farming policy

State mulling organic farming policy

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 01:52 AM IST
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Mumbai : The State government is considering bringing in an organic farming policy, agriculture minister Eknath Khadse has said.

The policy might even consider proposal to collect urine from the malls and theatres from the cities and send them to rural areas for use in farms, the minister added.

“Chemical fertilisers are being used rampantly for past few years. This has affected agriculture adversely. To nullify the adverse effect on the land, we are thinking of bringing in the organic farming policy,” Khadse said.

“Experiments at the Mahatma Phule Agricultural University have shown the effectiveness of urine and cow dung on farms. Urine and dung are being used for farming world over. But, it is not popular. Hence, we are bringing in the policy,” he said.

Khadse also said that a proposal to collect urine from malls and cinema theatres from across the cities and using them as fertiliser on farms in rural area too is being considered as a part of the policy. Other proposals under consideration as a part of the policy contain subsidies to promote use of cow dung as fertiliser, promoting bio-composting and use of earthworms etc.

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No solution to farmers’ suicides, finds Khadse

His comment make farmers’ advocacy group furious which has sought Khadse’s resignation

Nagpur : A farmers’ advocacy group from Vidarbha on Saturday locked horns with state agri-culture minister Eknath Kha-dse over his remarks that the government has no solution to stop farmland suicides.

“We are shocked by Khadse’s insensitive statements on such a sensitive issue which is a matter of concern for not only Maharashtra, but farm communities in India and the whole world,” Kishore Tiwari, president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, told IANS.

Reacting to Khadse’s view that tribals don’t commit suicides as they are “morally strong”, Tiwari claimed that every sec-ond farmer is a tribal in Vidar-bha and this can be verified from official records.  Follo-wing a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other officials to discuss ways and means to stop farm-land suicides, Khadse declared that no solutions were availa-ble.  “There are no concrete solutions to completely stop farmers suicides in the state… Even after counselling, there is no guarantee it (suicides) will stop,” Khadse told mediapersons on Friday.

Tiwari said, “It is mockery of the very issue of farmers ‘genocide’ by Khadse. As per official records, more than 50 percent of the victims are from ST and SC which have always been denied institutional credit, exploited by private moneylenders and have no access to government welfare schemes.”

He challenged the minister to visit the homes of Yavatmal district’s tribal farmers who ended their lives in 2015.

“Then he will realise what nonsense he is talking based on the misleading advice given to him by officials. Is this the reason why Fadnavis travels abroad and is bringing Israeli experts to stop farmers crisis?” Tiwari demanded.

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