Bankura Farmer Producer Organisations to export organic vegetables

With the immense success of Bengal in organic farming in the past few years, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) from Bankura are going to export organic vegetables to countries abroad.

It is now only a wait for a few weeks when vegetables cultivated in organic method in Bankura will be exported to countries in the Middle-East. The vegetables will also be exported to South-East Asian countries, the UK and the US.

According to an official in the state agriculture department, a company that is enlisted with the Centre's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) will be acting as the medium between the FPOs and the traders in other countries.

A list containing names of different vegetables have been prepared and the same will be exported. Vegetables including green chilli, colocasia, papaya, onion flower and pumpkin will be exported. The FPO has to export at least 10 different vegetables in one package at a time and the quantity will touch around 4 tonne in one week.

Export of organic vegetables to other countries will boost the sector in Bengal and it will motivate more farmers to take up the organic methods of farming. It may be mentioned that the initiative to export organic vegetables was taken by former MLA and agriculture produce marketing expert, Subhasis Batabyal.

Around 150 clusters of organic farming were brought under a scheme of the Centre. The scheme was implemented at 60:40 ratio of investment by the Centre and the state respectively. A delegation from the Centre recently visited the state to take a stock of the progress of works in the clusters.

Expressing their satisfaction over the progress and Bengal's advancement in organic farming, 120 more clusters will be brought under the Central scheme. Under the scheme, a farmer in the cluster gets Rs 50,000 a year for three consecutive years.