Workers pick organic tea leaves at a garden. File picture

Itanagar, Feb. 4: Arunachal Pradesh will soon have a state policy on organic farming.

The decision to formulate the policy was taken at a cabinet meeting held recently. It was chaired by chief minister Gegong Apang and attended by officers from agriculture, horticulture and the forest department, water resources development minister Tako Dabi said yesterday.

“Organic farming is gaining momentum in the state. Farmers are being encouraged to take up organic farming. Agriculture, which is the main occupation in the state, provides employment to about 70 per cent of the working population. Farmers have now started adopting organic farming in a big way as the demand for organic produce is increasing,” said Dabi.

A task force under the chairmanship of Apang would be constituted to take a decision on the kind of policy that should be adopted for organic farming, he said.

The use of chemical fertilisers has been posing dangers for environment and health. The department of agriculture has been promoting organic farming for the past few years through largescale training programmes, demonstrations and increased use of organic manure. Farmers’ training centres have been set up at Kheram in Lohit district and Namey in East Siang district.

A government seed farm in Sonajuli under Papum Pare district, state bio-control laboratory in Naharlagun, soil testing laboratory in Tezu and a Gram Sevak Training Centre in Deomali have also been set up. More and more farmers are taking up organic farming in various belts of Upper Siang district. Eighty per cent of the area in the state is dependent on rain.

Thus organic farming is a boon for sustainable agriculture through better moisture conservation for growing crops.