TRAINING ABOUT PGS
06./07.12.18 TRAINING ABOUT PGS
GRAM DISHA TRUST along with the Regional Council – “Organic Way of Life” provided “PGS (Participatory Guarantee System Of India) Training” to a delegation from NEPAL who visited Himachal from 6-7 Dec’18 for the same.
Report of Nepal delegation’s PGS-India organic certification exposure visit to Himachal Pradesh on 6th and 7th December 2018
Organic Way of Life (OWL) is a Regional Council under the Government of India’s PGS-India organic certification system recognised by the National Centre for Organic Farming (NCOF), Ministry of Agriculture. As per a bilateral agreement with Nepal, India was hosting a delegation from Nepal who were visiting India to understand the implementation of the PGS system. NCOF requested OWL to facilitate a training-cum-exposure visit of this delegation to Himachal Pradesh.
In order to do this, OWL approached the organisations listed below, which contributed in the following manner:
● Human Development Society (HDS): HDS has been associated with organic farming efforts in Himachal for the last few years. They have been working with organic farmers in Pangna, Himachal Pradesh who are PGS certified farmers. Specifically, HDS supports a model organic farm in the village which is used as a demonstration plot. For this specific visit by the international delegation, HDS also provided other financial support.
● Gram Disha Trust: Ashish Gupta and Nachiket Udupa provided the training on PGS to the delegation.
● Kalasan Nursery Farm: This farm hosted the training of the delegation. The farm was also a part of the exposure visit for the delegation.
● Gram Disha Jaivik Samuh: This is a newly formed self-help group (SHG) of organic farmers in Pangna, Himachal Pradesh. They manage the model farm supported by HDS, which was one of the sites visited by the delegation as a part of their exposure visit.
Day 0 – 5th December 2018
The delegation travelled from Delhi and reached Himachal Pradesh late on 5th December 2018. They were put up at Hotel Koyla in Jachh, which is about six kilometers from Pangna.
Day 1 – 6th December 2018
The day began with introductions once the participants reached Kalasan Nursery Farm after breakfast in their hotel. This was followed by a couple of videos to inform the participants about the area that they were visiting. One video was about apple farming in India and its potential. This video features Mr. Vikram Rawat, who runs the Kalasan Nursery Farm. The other video was about the work on organic agriculture that was being undertaken in Pangna by the self-help group. This was followed by the first session of the day on PGS-India organic certification.
Videos shown to participants:
1. https://youtu.be/OqokEJLstfo
2. https://youtu.be/HnYmOR1euqY
After this session, the participants were taken for a tour of the farm. Mrs. Rajni Rawat showed the participants around the farm and explained various aspects of organic agriculture being undertaken at Kalasan Nursery Farm. Specific discussions took place with respect to organic apple cultivation, soil health, nutrient management of trees, seedling versus rootstock for apple plants, pest control and harvest management. Participants noted with specific interest various cultivars of apples, High Density orchard management techniques and value addition with apple products. Smallholder members of Gram Disha Jaivik SHG were introduced to the participants with a brief on how PGS system demonstration shall be held with them the subsequent day.
After breaking for lunch, the team conducted the peer appraisal of Kalasan Nursery Farm. Ms. Rajni Rawat is a member of a local group near Pangna and the participants went through the exercise of appraising the farm by filling up the necessary formats from the manual prepared by the NCOF for this purpose.
Later the participants were shown how this data is entered into the PGS portal, apart from giving them a broad overview of the operation of the portal. During this exercise, it was also demonstrated to the delegation how consumers can verify the details uploaded by the farmers. This demonstration showed the transparency built into the PGS-India system. After this, in the evening, the participants returned to their hotel for dinner.
Day 2 – 7th December 2018
After breakfast in the hotel and checking-out, the delegation first came to model farm which is supported by HDS and being managed by Gram Disha. After introducing the SHG members and the delegation to each other, the participants broke into teams and undertook the process of registration for the members of the newly formed PGS local group, Gram Disha Jaivik Samuh.
After this, members of the local group took the PGS-India ‘pledge’ to duly follow the organic practices as per the national standards prescribed by the NCOF publicly in front of all the delegates.
Mr. M. L. Sharma, who is an organic apple grower and part of another PGS-India local group also came for an interaction with the group.
Then the delegation was taken on a tour of the model farm and shown the various practices being undertaken and implements being used there.
Before returning to Kalasan Nursery Farm for the rest of the day, there was a brief session of cultural exchange between the Himachalis of the village and the Nepalis in the delegation. Both groups presented folks songs native to their respective regions and persons from both teams enjoyed each other’s music and danced to it.
Once the team reached Kalasan Nursery Farm, they were shown practically how farmers and local groups are registered on the PGS-India web portal. This was followed by an interaction with Mr. Vikram Rawat, who gave a broad overview of apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh. After this the delegation had lunch.
Before leaving, certain members of the delegation gave testimonials of what they had witnessed during their two days in Himachal. Mr. Rajni Rawat also shared her experience of using the ‘Waste Decomposer’ that has been developed by the NCOF. These videos may be found below:
1. https://photos.app.goo.gl/rqdcnDe1TNB3fgC58
2. https://photos.app.goo.gl/AjsF9WTFrKmRWgeP7
3. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XFEeRbcVPHU2Hh5h6
The participants departed from Kalasan Nursery Farm and headed to Manali for a visit and then returned to Delhi from there.
The list of people who were a part of the delegation may be found below. The delegation of 20 people comprised of 10 persons from the Government of Nepal and 10 farmers from various backgrounds, such apple and mango farmers, those into pisciculture, etc.
For Pdf-Report click here.