36 Haryana farmers join hands, aim to put organic food on everyone’s table
Rohtak, April 3
Agriculturists engaged in organic farming in the state have formed the ‘Organic Farmers Sales Group’ to sell their produce under a cooperative system. The group has been constituted by the farmers associated with the Kudarti Kheti Abhiyan, which has been promoting natural farming in Haryana since 2009.
“This group and its management committee are independent of Kudarti Kheti Abhiyan, Haryana, though it supports the initiative,” said Prof Rajendra Chaudhary, an advisor of the group.
He pointed out that so far, the farmers associated with the campaign have been selling their produce independently at their own level.
“The farmers have to devote considerable time in selling their produce at individual level, due to which they get less time for farming. Hence, the farmers associated with the Kudarti Kheti Abhiyan have decided to set up a collective selling system,” said Prof Chaudhary.
The group comprises 36 farmers from 12 districts of Haryana and the farmers from the state who have been practising organic farming for at least three years can join this group.
The management committee has been authorised to grant membership to new farmers. Manjit Singh, a young farmer from Kharak Ramji village in Jind district, has been chosen as the coordinator of the sales group and Tej Singh, a resident Dighal village in Jhajjar district, as the manager.
Natural farming activist Parminder Pal and Prof Rajendra Chaudhary, a former Professor of economics at MDU, have been made the advisors of the group. At present, the group will work from Rohtak.
“The objective of this sales group is to reduce the time spent by the farmers on sales so that they can spend more time in the field. At the same time, we also want to ensure that the common consumer also gets nutritious and safe food,” said Professor Chaudhary.
Group manager Tej Singh has expressed hope that the cooperative movement, which has been started with the aim to provide safe and nutritious food to residents, would spread throughout the region.
