The 13th Edition of BIOFACH INDIA was held in the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, Delhi NCR, from October 28 to 30, 2021. The event is being organized by NürnbergMesse India in partnership with APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority), and is intended to bring together major Organic firms and stakeholders together.
The Farmers Market set up by OFAI and the Farmers Conference by Organic Farming Association of India & the Farmers group of All India Organic Network Association (AIONA) is an engaging knowledge programme. The current Chairman of APEDA Dr. M. Angamuthu also attended the farmers market on Day 1.
The first session of Biofach began at 11:30 Am on Thursday 28th October 2021 and the main topic discussed today was Organic Climate-Resilience and Resilience strategies.
The session was Moderated By:
Joy Daniel, Founder & Director of Lipok Foundation is, he is also associated with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) for close to two decades in addition to other networks such as URGENCI International, PGS Organic Council (India), and Biodynamic Association of India (BDAI).
Joy Daniel has previously worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GiZ in some other countries of Asia prior to his grassroots work in India. And Shamika Mone, Research Director at Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI) and is also associated with INOFO & IFOAM Organics International.
The opening remarks on the theme Organic- Climate- Resilience were given by Joy Daniels. After which Organic Farmers took the stage to share their experiences of Resilience.
Anil Gavil, who came from Solapur Maharashtra was the first farmer to grace the stage & spoke to the crowd about how we need to bring diversification in the food he said: “Once upon a time we had a total of 1800 varieties of jowar but now we only get to eat a few chosen crops.”
He also advocated strongly that organically grown food was healthier compared to its chemically produced counterparts. A complete compendium of knowledge was given on traditional seeds was also given by Anil Gavil.
They were followed by Avinash Singh Dangi from Madhya Pradesh, who is also the Founder of Tarkari Naturals talked about how children of farmers generally don’t want to become farmers due to the lack of income even with the amount of hard work that they put in.
Hence, he was adamant about educating farmers to farm organically & how symbiotic mixed cropping/ farming is the solution to increase both variety and yield in organic farming, he also shared his opinion that if farmers need to improve their income they need to plant crops of different varieties.
Basant Kumar Verma from Madhya Pradesh, spoke about how he got into Organic Farming after running his father’s chemical fertilizer business and how he was able to grow a plantation of pomegranates in a place, that people said he wouldn’t be able to grow due to organic farming and organic fertilizers made of cow manure & bacteria that is naturally found in natural processes.
