The Agriculture Department is organising video-conferencing between organic produce merchants and organic farmers every third Thursday of the month.
Department Joint Director (Inputs) Siddaraju said that such conferences are aimed at helping farmers get the right market and merchants to get the right produce and consumers to get certified produce.
When one of the farmers at the meeting on Thursday raised the issue of cost involved in certification of crops/ produce, a representative of Eco Agri Research Foundation, Bangalore, said that the company will get the certification free. Eco Agri may be contacted on Ph: 080-64546461.
Certification of the crop/ produce through authorisation by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority offers authenticity to the produce, Mr. Siddaraju said.
Srinivas Aithal from Ojas Nisarga, an organic produce outlet in Bangalore, told farmers that fruits of all kinds grown organically are in great demand. Even as farmers were saying that they had a large quantity of organically grown rice, paddy, ragi, etc., the merchants told them that they cannot lift the produce in bulk and asked them to send samples.
Harish from Jaivik Krishi Society, Lal Bagh, Bangalore, told farmers about the requirements at his society and asked them to contact him on Ph: 9986083656.
