Major Problems Of Organic Farming In India 2024

The major constraint of organic agriculture in the country is an absence of linkages between the farmers and markets. In this article, we will discuss all Challenges and problems of organic farming in India.

The most significant problems and challenges facing organic farming in India to the development of organic farming is the government’s inability to make a firm decision to support organic farming. Making regulations alone won’t amount to anything unless there is such a clear and unmistakable direction available in terms of both financial and technical support, from the center to the panchayath levels.

Major Problems Of Organic Farming in India are:

1. Lack of Awareness

It is a fact that many farmers in the country have only vague ideas about organic farming and its advantages against conventional farming methods. The use of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides requires awareness and willingness on the part of the farming community.

Knowledge about the availability and usefulness of supplementary nutrients to enrich the soil is also vital to increase productivity. Farmers are not well-versed in compost-making using modern techniques and also its application. The maximum they do is make a pit and fill it with small quantities of waste. Proper training for the farmers is a must for the efficient recycling of organic residues.

2. Output Marketing Problems

Before the beginning of organic farming, their marketability, and that too at a premium over conventional produce has to be assured. The inability to obtain a premium price, at least during the period required to achieve the productivity levels of the conventional crop will be a setback.

It has been observed that the number of farmers of organic wheat in Rajasthan got lower was also same and the buyers of wheat were not prepared to pay higher prices for the organic prices than those of conventional wheat. The cost of marketing both types of products is wheat.

3. Shortage of Biomass

Many experts and well-informed farmers are not sure whether all the nutrients with the required quantities can be made available by organic materials. Even if this problem can be summoned, they are of the view that the available organic matter is not simply to meet the requirements

The crop residues useful to prepare vermicompost are removed after harvest from the farms and they are used as fodder and fuel. Small and marginal cultivators differ in getting organic mares compared to chemical fertilizers, which can be easy if they have the financial ability. Increasing pressure of the population and the disappearance of common lands including the wastes and government lands make the task difficult. 

4. Inadequate Supporting Infrastructure

Despite the adoption of the NPOP in 2000, the state Governments are yet t formulate policies and a credible mechanism to implement them. There are only a few agencies for accreditation and their expertise is limited to fruits and vegetables, tea, coffee, and spices.

The certifying agencies are inadequate, the recognized green markets are nonexistent, the trade channels are yet to be formed and the infrastructure facilities for verification leading to certification of the farms are inadequate

5. High Input Costs

Small and marginal farmers in India have been practicing a sort of organic farming in the form of the traditional farming system. They use local or own farm renewable reso and carry on agricultural practices in an ecologically friendly environment.

However, now the costs of organic inputs are higher than those of industrially produced chemical fertilizers and pesticides including other inputs used in the conventional farming system. The groundnut cake, neem cake, vermicompost, silt, cow dung, and other organics applied as organic manure are increasingly becoming costly making them unaffordable to small cultivators 

6. Marketing Problems of Organic Inputs

Bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides are yet to become popular in the country. There is a lack of marketing and distribution networks for them because the retailers are not interested to deal in these products, as the demand is low. Higher margins of profit for chemical fertilizers and pesticides for retailing, and heavy advertisement campaigns by the manufacturers and dealers are other major problems affecting the markets for organic inputs in India.

7. Absence of an Appropriate Agriculture Policy

Promotion of organic farming both for export and domestic consumption, the requirements of food security for millions of the poor, national self-sufficiency in food production, product, and input supplies, etc are vital issues that will have to be dealt with in an appropriate agriculture policy of India. Formulation of an appropriate agriculture policy taking care of these complexities is essential to promote organic agriculture in a big way.

8. Lack of Financial Support

Developing countries like India have to design a plethora of national and regional standards in attune with those of the developed countries. Adoption and maintenance of such a regulatory framework and its implementation will be costly.

The cost of certification, a major component of which is the periodical inspections carried out by the certifying agencies, which have the freedom to fix the timings, type, and number of such inspections appears to be burdensome for the small and marginal farmers. Of course. the fees charged by the international agencies working in India before the NPOP was prohibitive and that is a reason for the weak response to organic agriculture even among the large farms in the country.

No financial support, as being provided in advanced countries like Germany. is available in India. Support for the marketing of organic products is also not forthcoming either from the state or from the union Governments. Even the financial assistance extended to conventional farming is absent for the promotion of organic farming.

9. Low Yields

In many cases, farmers experience some loss in yields on discarding synthetic inputs on the conversion of their farming method from conventional to organic. Restoration of full biological activity in terms of the growth of beneficial insect populations, nitrogen fixation from legumes, pest suppression, and fertility problems will take some time and the reduction in the yield rates is the result of the interregnum. It may also be possible that it will take years to make organic production possible on the farm.

Small and marginal farmers cannot take the risk of low yields for the initial 2-3 years on the conversion to organic farming. There are no schemes to compensate them during the gestation period. The price premiums on the organic products will not be much of a help, as they will disappear once significant quantities of organic farm products are made available.

10. Inability to Meet the Export Demand

The demand for organic products is high in advanced countries like the USA, European Union, and Japan. It is reported that US consumers are ready to pay a premium price of 60 to 100 percent for organic products. The upper classes in India are also following this trend elsewhere. The market survey of the International Trade Centre (TTC) in 2000 indicates that the demand for organic products is growing rapidly in many of the world markets while the supply is unable to match it.

India is known in the world organic market as a tea supplier and there is a good potential to export coffee, vegetables, sugar, herbs, spices, and vanilla. Despite the several initiatives to produce and export organic produce from the country, the aggregate production for export came to only about 14000 tonnes.

This also includes the production of organic spices in about 1000 ha under certification. Some export houses like Good Value Marketing and coffee from India. The country could export almost 85 percent of the production Lad and Burmah Trading Corporation are also engaged in exporting organic fruits, and vegetables indicating that demand is not a constraint in the international markets for organic products.

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11. Vested Interests

Pesticide industry as also the importers of these inputs to the country have a stake in the Hybrid seeds that are designed to respond to fertilizers and chemicals. The seed, fertilizer conventional farming. Their opposition to organic farming stems from these interests.

12. Lack of Quality Standard For Bio-Manures

The need for fixing standards and quality parameters for bio-fertilizers and bio-manures has arisen with the increasing popularity of organic farming in the country. There are a very large number of brands of organic manures, claiming high levels of natural nutrients and essential elements. But most farmers are not aware of the pitfalls of using commercially available bio-manure products.

While the concept of organic farming itself lays great stress on the manures produced on the farm and the farmers’ household, many of the branded products available in the market may not be organic. Elements of chemicals slipping into the manures through faulty production methods could make the product not certifiable as organic.

The process of composting which is a major activity to be carefully done is achieved usually by one of the two methods, vermicomposting or microbe composting. While the former is ideal for segregated waste material without foreign matter, microbe composting is suitable for large-scale management of solid wastes, especially in cities. Even though the farmers are using manure produced by different methods, proper parameters for bio-manure are yet to be finalized.

Most farmers are still unaware of the difference between bio-manure and bio-fertilizer, it is pointed out. While bio-manure contains organic matter, which improves the soil quality, bio-fertilizers are nutritional additives separated from the organic material which could be added to the soil, much like taking vitamin pills. Bio-fertilizers do nothing to enhance soil quality while the loss of soil quality has been the major problem faced by farmers these days.

13. Political and Social Factors

 Agriculture in India is subject to political interventions with the objective of dispensing favors for electoral benefits. Subsidies and other supports from both the central and state Governments, Government controlled prices of inputs like chemical fertilizers, the public sector units’ dominant role in the production of fertilizers, government support/floor prices for many agricultural products, supply of inputs like power and water either free of cost or at a subsidized rate, etc are the tools often used to achieve political objectives.

Any movement for the promotion of organic farming in India will have to counter opposition from the sections that benefit from such policies in the conventional farming system. The political system in a democracy like India is likely to evade the formulation of policies, which affect the interests of the voting blocks unless there are more powerful counter forces demanding changes.

In the absence of alternative employment opportunities and other considerations, the organized workforce particularly in the public sector fertilizer, pesticide, and seed industries is also likely to oppose moves on the part of the government to promote organic farming on a large scale.

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FAQs

Conclusions

Organic farming in India faces a number of challenges and problems that can cause its growth and adoption. These challenges include a lack of awareness and education among farmers, inadequate infrastructure and technical support, high cost of organic inputs, limited market access and certification, and difficulty in scaling up small-scale farming practices.