Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday dubbed the State organic farming mission as a programme serving only the BJP party workers.

Stating that he was not against the organic farming, he questioned the manner of implementing the mission.

Opposition in the Zilla Panchayat has demanded a Lokayukta probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds of the Organic Farming Mission, being executed by the Agriculture department.

Since the time accreditation was introduced to organic farming in 2001, India has touched the one million hectare mark as compared to 42,000 hectares of land in 2003-04.

Farmers worldwide managed 32.2 million hectares of agricultural land organically in 2007, nearly 5 percent more than in the previous year and a 118-percent increase since 2000. Organic farming is now reported in 141 countries; about two thirds of this land area is in industrial countries, and nearly half of the producers are in Africa.

The state government will soon formulate a policy to promote organic farming in a systematic manner and develop

Vidarbha village looks for options other than suicide At a time when the traditional cropping pattern of suicide-ravaged Vidarbha has all but disappeared under the lure of quick cash from soybean, a tiny village of 48 farming households in Maharashtra

Alarmed that genetically engineered crops may be finding their way into organic and natural foods, an industry group has begun a campaign to test products and label those that are largely free of biotech ingredients.
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Top, Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times; Above, Genetic ID

A campaign hopes to back up claims some food makers are already making.

Hyderabad, Aug. 28: The committee on wildlife and environment protection on Thursday recommended the utilisation of bio-fertilisers to encourage people-friendly organic farming.

The committee also sought more subsidy for bio-fertilisers in comparison to synthetic fertilisers.