Sikkim is set to become completely organic in the next four years

Sikkim is set to become completely organic in the next four years. The State Government is confident of converting all of its 58,260 hectares of cultivable area into an organic one against the set target of 50,000 hectares by the year 2015 under the State Organic Mission.

Addressing a press conference in Gangtok, State Agriculture and Horticulture Secretary Vishal Chauhan said the state had already got the C-1 certification for 18,000 hectares of land, covering some 12,500 farmers. It is the first step towards organic certification, he said. He said ever since the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, for the first time in the country, resolved to convert Sikkim into a complete organic state in the year 2003, the State Government has stopped picking up its quota of the chemical fertilisers allocated by the Centre.
Mr Chauhan said a policy of withdrawing subsidy and ban on chemical fertiliser and pesticides along with subsidising vermi compost units had also been resorted to since then.
 
All India Radio