MULTAN:Punjab Agriculture department south Punjab is going to draft a law to regulate organic farming to promote organic food, its certification and plug chances of further degradation of ecosystem besides winning premium price for farmers.
Demand for organic food was rising by each passing day all over the world necessitating steps at home to encourage organic agriculture and make food free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers accessible to majority of population for good human health, said south Punjab secretary agriculture Saqib Ali Ateel presiding over a meeting here the other day.
An audit and certification act would be drafted and presented before the government for legislation, he added.
Saqib formed a committee headed by additional secretary agriculture task force Barakullah Khan to prepare draft of the organic farming audit and certification act.
Pakistan Organic Association (POA) director Saim Rasheed gave a presentation stating that certified organic farming covers 200 million acres area all over the world and there were 3.1 million registered farmers. Some 719 institutions were operational in the world for organic certification.
Organic farming was also being practiced by Pakistani farmers but they also needed certification so their products recognized as organic internationally and fetch premium price
Secretary agriculture south said that the organic farming act would improve capacity of farming community and enable them get better return of their organic vegetables, fruit and other crops.
Saqib said, organic food was also important for a healthy life and to keep human away from diseases caused by chemicals and pesticides application on crops.
He said that eleven laboratories in Punjab were developing crop-friendly pests to kill enemy pests, however, such laboratories were needed at each tahsil for success of organic farming and integrted pest management (IPM) programme. The initiative was meant to minimize chances of pollution and keep food free from hazardous impact of pesticides and chemicals, Saqib said.
Principal scientific officer Dr. Altaf, deputy secretaries Asif Raza and Haidar Karrar besides other officials were present.