In a first of its kind initiative, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in collaboration with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of the Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India, has developed a 6-months duration Certificate in Organic Farming.

 

Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce, formally launched this newly developed educational programme on Organic Farming at a televised function at the IGNOU main campus here today.

 

IGNOU Vice Chancellor, Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai ; APEDA Director, Shri Asit Tripathy, Chairman APEDA, Shri S. Dave; Pro Vice Chancellor, Dr. Latha Pillai; and Prof. B.S. Hansra, Director of IGNOU’s School of Agriculture were present at the launch ceremony. The programme is being coordinated by Dr S.K. Yadav, Reader of the School of Agriculture.

 

The IGNOU-APEDA Organic Farming programme will be the first such full fledged educational and training programme being offered in the country. The programme would be made available to students, progressive farmers and certifying personnel seeking enrollment to the course from the coming academic year. As it would be imparted in IGNOU’s Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode, persons with Secondary School qualification (10+2 pass) in any part of the country could enroll in it.

 

The study programme is expected to address the vast manpower requirement for trained personnel in organic farming sector in India. After taking this course, successful candidates can find employment avenues as Organic Farming professionals, advisors, entrepreneurs, quality certifiers, marketing and export trade facilitators. Organic farming in India is anticipated to get a major boost in the country due to the rising income levels and health consciousness among large section of people. The programme has been designed with the help of experts from different organizations/universities across the country. They have also written and edited the lessons of the programme.

Currently, India is having 1.7 million hectares of area under certified organic farming. The organic market in the country is valued at Rs 100 crores with an annual growth rate steadily going up from 35 per cent to 50 per cent by 2010. India is fast becoming a major base for production and supply of organically produced agricultural products to the world market. The global market for organic farm produce is expected to touch US$ 100 billion by 2010.

 

Besides its mandate for promotion of agricultural and processed foods exports, APEDA is the nodal agency for boosting of certified organic production and its export. It is also the official agency for overseeing the implementation of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).

IGNOU’s School of Agriculture which developed the training programme in organic farming has the main objective of promoting sustainable agriculture by broad-basing and upgrading the knowledge level of the Indian farming community.   The delivery of IGNOU’s organic farming programme to the students and farmers would be backed up student practical classes and counseling being arranged through different Programme Study Centres (PCS) of IGNOU. These programme study centres are established in State Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, NGOs, ICAR institutions etc. This would facilitate getting organic farming training and counseling to the students locally.

 

At present, IGNOU has about 2.0 million students on its roll. The university offers 144 programmes at various levels viz., Certificate, Diploma, Masters’ and Doctorate, in different areas. Currently, the university has 21 Schools that are developing programme in different areas. The University strives to make greater use of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and multimedia in imparting lessons to the students.