By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 11, 2017: Odisha government on Friday sought guidance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for promoting organic farming and other activities in the state.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday requested the visiting United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Erik Solheim here and proposed for UNEP’s encouragement towards organic farming in Odisha.

Patnaik said there is a lot of scope for organic farming in the state for which the government is interested for sustainable and climate resilient organic agriculture. Organic farming should be given importance in rain-dependent and tribal areas of Odisha where there is no application of chemicals in agriculture, Patnaik added.

The UN body took proactive step by forming a joint committee under chairmanship of Satya S Tripahy, senior advisor of the 2030-Agenda for Sustainable Development to identify specific areas of collaboration between the two.

The joint committee will give a formal shape to the possible collaboration and would carry forward the negotiations between UNEP and Odisha government.

Simultaneously, the state government has constituted a team under chairmanship of development commissioner R Balakrishnan with principal secretary agriculture Monoj Ahuja and principal secretary finance Tuhin Kanta Pandy as members.

This was decided at a meeting between the UNEP team and the state government officials under chairmanship of chief secretary A P Padhi. A ten member delegation team of UNEP led by its Executive Director, Erik Solheim held elaborate discussions with senior officers of the state government on possible areas of collaboration.

The state government officials and the UNEP team members discussed on achieving sustainable development through application of green technology, scaling up of solar energy, organic farming, and traditional agricultural potential.

The traditional horticultural products of Odisha like turmeric, ginger, and maize also figured in the discussion.

The agriculture department mentioned that this year organic farming of millets has been introduced among 14,000 farmers in the State.

“The experience of maize cultivation in Odisha under green revolution initiatives was shared in the meeting. It was pointed out that maize alone had around Rs 1000 crore of market worth,” said agriculture secretary Manoj Ahuja.