Topics Covered: Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
‘Large Area Certification’ scheme:
Context:
14,491 ha area of UT of A&N Islands has become the first large contiguous territory to be conferred with organic certification under ‘Large Area Certification’ scheme.
About the ‘Large Area Certification’ scheme:
- Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under its flagship scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) has launched this unique quick certification programme to harness these potential areas.
- Under LAC, each village in the area is considered as one cluster/group.
- All farmers with their farmland and livestock need to adhere to the standard requirements and on being verified get certified en-mass without the need to go under conversion period.
- Certification is renewed on annual basis through annual verification by a process of peer appraisals as per the process of PGS-India.
Benefits of LAC:
- As per the established norm of organic production systems, the areas having chemical input usage history are required to undergo a transition period of minimum 2-3 years to qualify as organic.
- During this period, farmers need to adopt standard organic agriculture practices and keep their farms under the certification process.
- On successful completion, such farms can be certified as organic after 2-3 years. The certification process also requires elaborate documentation and time to time verification by the certification authorities.
- Whereas under LAC requirements are simple and the area can be certified almost immediately.
InstaLinks:
Prelims and Mains Links:
Key features and significance of the scheme.
Sources: PIB.
