Problems and prospects of Organic Farming in Samastipur district, Bihar, India
Author(s): M. BHUSHAN, T. MANDAL, ADITYA AND K. KUMAR
Abstract: Crop yields in Bihar, an Indian state, have been mostly stagnant in the last decades coupled with increased input costs, has led to reduced incomes and increased debts. There is an urgent need to study options to improve the sustainability of farming systems in the state which can lead to better livelihoods of the farmers. One of the strategies to stabilize agriculture in the state is possibly organic farming which is generally said to have less dependence on external inputs. Organic agriculture is one among the broad spectrum of production methods that are supportive of the environment. This study aims at examining the prospect of organic farming in a selected village of Bihar. For selection of district, block, village purposive sampling techniques was employed for selection of respondent. Out of 135 families, 100 farmers have been randomly selected from the village Srichandpur Kothia for the study. The data using appropriate statistical tools was analysed taking the support of the package SPSS (Ver. 19). The main issue identified was regarding the problems of certification. There is no facility for farmers for organic products certification and in absence of proper certification of their products farmers are not getting actual price of their produce. Also, the increased demand of food grains for the increasing population in the coming years would depend more on enhancing productivity through utilization of family labour and farm power per unit of land rather than expansion of area under cultivation which was mainly observed in the study. It can be concluded that organic farming can be a sustainable farming practice in Bihar depending on regional conditions and the crops cultivated. Policies stimulating organic farming and certification should therefore consider the farmer’s preferences for sustainable livelihoods.