Organic farming catching up in India.

February 4, 2006

DEVELOPMENT:China and India Grow OrganicallySanjay Suri LONDON, Jan 27 (IPS) - China and India are emerging as new giants in production of organic food, United Nations experts say. As European Union (EU) countries switch more to organic foods for value addition the two big developing countries, and also others in Latin America are beginning to catch up. But it might be too soon to fear any agricultural trade wars now in organic produce. ''China and India have a huge potential to tap domestically to begin with,'' Mattia Prayer-Galletti, country programme manager for Asia with the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD) told IPS. The Rome-based organisation is a specialised agency of the United Nations

dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. At the moment IFAD is trying to ''increase the space for organic farming as much as possible,'' Prayer-Galletti said. Organic farming eliminates use of chemicals both by way of fertilisers and pesticides. That means largely a return to natural and traditional methods of farming. Given the rapidly growing demand for organic food in Western markets, organically grown food which usually fetches a 20 to 40 percent premium over other produce, represents a new opportunity for small farmers for whom a lack of means to buy fertilisers and pesticides can now be turned into an advantage. Pl read the entire article at; http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31933 "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

Brings words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Mail.