December 10, 2010
India's Morarka to expand Saudi Arabia's organic farming industry
Morarka Foundation, India's advocate of organic agriculture for the last decade, has tied-up with GTZ Saudi Arabia to improve their organic farming sector.
"With our vast experience and knowledge in the natural farming segment, the Agriculture Ministry of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia selected Morarka Foundation as resource organisation for technology transfer to develop organic agriculture in that country," the foundation's executive director Mukesh Gupta said.
Morarka is already providing technological expertise to countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Australia.
"With Saudi Arabia, we have now entered into the Middle East countries with our expertise. We are now looking to expand in the Middle East and other Asian nations in developing organic agriculture," he said.
Saudi Arabia mainly produces date palms, grains and horticultural products. Gupta said, "We will take step by step approach in converting farming in Saudi Arabia. We will begin with date palm and then extend to grains, vegetables and fruits."
Presently, 15,000 hectares are under certified organic farming in Saudi Arabia and another 30,000 hectares are under conversion. It takes about three years for converting any farmland into an organic farm.
A 30-member delegation, including 20 progressive farmers and 10 senior officials from the agriculture ministry of Saudi Arabia, will visit the foundation's organic project sites in Himachal Pradesh, Navalgarg in Rajasthan and Kutch in Gujarat to have a firsthand experience, he said.
"The overall objective of the tie-up is to develop a state-of-art organic sector in production, marketing and certification to satisfy consumer demands for healthy organic food in Saudi Arabia," GTZ Team Leader Marco Hartmann said.
GTZ also aims to offer opportunities to farmers and producers within the domestic and export markets to keep up with global food production quality standards, he said.
Saudi Arabia is looking to convert its livestock into 'organic livestock'. However, this will take time.
