Sikkim IFFCO Organics, a joint venture between the State of Sikkim and the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) is India’s first joint venture between a state government and a cooperative society in the Organic Value Chain. The shareholding pattern of this JV between IFFCO and the State of Sikkim is 51:49. Recently Sikkim made India proud by becoming the world’s first fully Organic state. In an exclusive interview with The Organic Magazine, Mayank Parihar, Chief Operating Officer, Sikkim IFFCO Organics elucidates on the road to this milestone achievement and the other Indian states which have the potential to emulate this.
The vision behind the Sikkim IFFCO Joint Venture?
To create an Organic value chain across the North Eastern states of India with an aim to double farmers income by increasing the productivity.
Your thoughts on Sikkim becoming the world’s first state to be 100% organic?
India is a country that is bestowed with indigenous skills and potentiality for growth in organic agriculture. Although India was far behind in the adoption of organic farming due to several reasons, presently it has achieved rapid growth in organic agriculture and now becomes one of the largest organic producers in the world. With Sikkim being declared as the first fully organic state, this has had a great positive impact on the health of a nation like India. Sikkim’s approach towards organic farming has transformed conventional farming to a more sustainable eco-friendly way of agriculture that promotes the health of consumers as well as the ecological health of the country.
The North Eastern states of India have been organic by default due to a low penetration of distribution agrochemical inputs & the practice of traditional agriculture which is also mostly organic by default. There is a big opportunity to convert these to organic by certification & the leadership in Sikkim decided to pioneer this approach.
How did the State achieve this?
It all started with the policy of Organic mission in 2010 which included banning chemical fertilisers and pesticides with support and incentives to build a holistic transformation of the whole of Sikkim’s food system. Farmers were supplied with good quality organic seeds for strengthening local production and development. As an effort to improve the soil health, the government has provided support for farmers to perform 40,000 soil tests per year. The results were delivered in the form of Soil Health Cards, which gave the nutrient status and recommendations on inputs. The Sikkim government also provided training to the farmers in how to produce organic inputs such as compost, vermicomposting and organic pesticides using local plants.
How many organic companies/producers are there in Sikkim? Which are the main produce?
There are the more than 66,000 Sikkimese farming families, managing more than 58,168 ha of land for organic farming. Sikkim focuses on specific crops such as cardamom, ginger, buckwheat, turmeric, mandarin, tea, kiwi fruit, passion fruit and mountain vegetables.
What was the Government’s/Sikkim IFFCO Organics’ role and what more needs to be done?
The whole transition from a small state with small farms built on terraced slopes on the mountains to a fully organic state was done through thousands of soil tests done in phases through a strong policy framework of the state government.
The Sikkim government has set up three livelihood schools, the first of their kind in the country at Tadong (East District), Bermiok (South District) and Daramdin (West District) to create trained local manpower for the organic sector. As a step forward, the government has also established a biofertiliser unit at Majitar in East Sikkim with an annual installed capacity of 150 tonnes.
What needs to be done further is training the farmers about recycling food waste to manure and organic animal feed. Domestic market development strategies and export market also needs to be established.
Sikkim IFFCO is helping the government in strengthening the organic production as a step towards sustainable development and in achieving food safety in the country. Further, Sikkim IFFCO is also trying to establish footprints of organic products of Sikkim at national and international platforms.
Does Sikkim export any of its organic produce? Do they have the necessary organic certifications?
Yes, Sikkim does export some produce through procurement by local traders and aggregators. All agricultural land in Sikkim is third party certified under the National Production of Organic Produce (NPOP) standard by Certification Bodies duly accredited by the National Accreditation Body (NAB) under Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) which is the implementing body of the NPOP standard.
What kind of support do you give to farmers in the state? Any training modules?
Subsidy for purchase of inputs, support for setting up Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) & training is provided by the Sikkim Organic Mission (SOM). Other support includes supply of quality organic agri inputs, training to farmers about various certifications required to supply agri produce to European countries, on field demonstration to educate them about importance of Agri-inputs in crop and improving farm management practices.
Using technology like ICT (Information Communication Technology) in organic farming? Comments on digital agriculture?
ICT has proved to be extremely beneficial for farmers including small land holders, marginalised and poor farmers, and helped them in marketing, precision farming and improved profits. It will initiate new agricultural and rural business like ecommerce, realty business for satellite offices, rural business, and virtual corporation of small scale farms.
Through ICT, farmers have been empowered to exchange their opinions, experiences and ideas. It has given farmers more exposure and allowed them to use science that looks at agriculture from an integrated perspective. E-agriculture has the potential to put India on the higher pedestal of a ‘Second Green Revolution’ by making Indian agricultural sector self-sufficient.
Availability of timely information and technology has proved very crucial in areas like disease and drought management thereby helping the farmers not only in avoiding crop loss but also thwarting economic loss. ICT has now become a reliable instrument for improving the quantity and quality of agricultural production.
The efforts of the Government in the area of ICT have improved the living standard of Indian farmers and made them ICT-friendly, which in turn has resulted in increased penetration of useful information about crops, soils, climate and cultivation processes. The government has taken several initiatives to encourage Indian farmers to be more ICT friendly which include e-choupal, e-krishi, e-aid and many more. And, numerous mobile applications have also been launched by the Government of India for the same including Mandi trades, Mpower social, Kisan Suvidha, Crop insurance etc.
Which other states in India have the potential to emulate Sikkim’s organic achievement?
India is endowed with various types of naturally available organic form of nutrients in different parts of the country which is essential for organic cultivation of crops substantially. The major states involved in organic agriculture apart from Sikkim in India are Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh and they have tremendous potential to emulate Sikkim’s organic model.
Further, North Eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, also have the potential as they have geographical and topographical similarities to Sikkim.
Future roadmap for Sikkim IFFCO Organics? Any value add/forward integration plans in the pipeline?
According to the Union budget 2020–21, Rs 687.5 crore has been allocated for the organic and natural farming sector which was Rs 461.36 crore in the previous year. The popularity of organic foods due to its nutritional and health benefits and positive impact on environmental and socioeconomic status is increasing day by day.
Organic foods have become one of the rapidly growing food markets with revenue increasing by nearly 20% each year since 1990.The global organic food market has reached US$ 97 billion in 2017 from US$ 17.9 billion in 2000.
Even in developing countries like India, the demand for organically grown produce is increasing as people are becoming aware about the safety and quality of food. The progress in organic agriculture is quite commendable. Currently, India has become the largest organic producer (farmers, rephrase) in the world and ranked eighth, having 1.78 million ha of organic agriculture land in the world in 2017 with Sikkim leading as the first fully organic state of India.
Companies like Sikkim IFFCO Organics are encouraging organic farming in India, helping India build a nutritionally, ecologically and economically healthy nation. Further, Sikkim IFFCO is in the process of setting up an integrated processing unit in Rangpo, Sikkim for ginger, turmeric, large cardamom and buckwheat. We have already awarded the EPC Contract.
Also read: Organic Valley launches National Clean Energy Fund for its Farmers
From article it looks all credit of converting Sikkim organic goes to IIFCO.
Very good initiative for this type of development and hope in future more development will be in education sector in different areas also. In my recent visit ( 15.03.2020 to 18.03.2020) at Temi Tea estates have observed that factory needs modifications in withering side and plantation side need more fertilization for better yield and good quality what it was in the year 1996-98.