On July 14, 2021, the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh administration signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ‘Sikkim State Organic Certification Agency’ (SSOCA) regarding the implementation of ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ (PKVY) and Mission Organic Development Initiative (MODI) in the Ladakh region.
Key points:
i.Objective: To convert Ladakh into a certified organic UT by 2025.
ii.3 Phases: The UT plans to achieve the organic status through 3 phases, in the first phase, 85 villages will be identified to convert 5000 hectares of land into organic and in the 2nd phase, 82 villages will be covered with 10,000 hectares and under the 3rd phase, 79 villages (the remaining areas) will be covered.
iii.The MoU was signed by Stanzin Chosphel, Executive Councillor, Agriculture, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC); Ravinder Kumar, Agriculture Secretary; Shrikant Suse, Deputy Commissioner and CEO, LAHDC, along with the representatives of SSOCA.
Note – Recently, Ladakh has signed an MoU with the Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI) for forest cover development in the region. UT Principal Secretary Pawan Kotwal and HFRI Director SS Samant signed the MoU.
Sikkim – the organic state:
i.Sikkim was declared as the 1st ‘100 percent organic state’ in the world by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO).
ii.Sikkim’s policies that led to achieving the target viz, State Policy on Organic Farming (2004) and Sikkim Organic Mission (2010) were recognized with the Future Policy Gold Award 2018 from the UN FAO.
iii.The state made all of its farms organic by banning the use and sale of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the state.
About Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY):
i.It is a sub-component of the Soil Health Management (SHM) scheme under the National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), it aims to develop sustainable models of organic farming through a mix of traditional wisdom and modern science to ensure long term soil fertility.
ii.Fifty or more farmers will form a cluster having 50-acre land to take up organic farming under the scheme and every farmer will be provided Rs 20,000 per acre in 3 years for the seed to harvesting of crops.
Recent Related News:
In April 2021, Ladakh UT Administration, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh (LAHDC) & Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI Ltd) signed a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up a 50 MW solar power project at Taru (Taroo) in Leh District.
About Sikkim State Organic Certification Agency (SSOCA):
Establishment – 2015
Headquarters– Gangtok, Sikkim
About Ladakh:
Capital – Leh
Lieutenant Governor – Radha Krishna Mathur
