Coordination meeting under Sikkim Organic Mission held at Majhitar

GANGTOK, 11 Dec: A coordination meeting between Sikkim Organic Mission, FS & ADD, Government of Sikkim and service provider agency namely International Panaacea Ltd, SRESTA and SIMFED under the Chairmanship of Deputy Director, FS& ADD, JN Giri was held on Tuesday.
A press release informs that in the morning session, representative from Excel Crop Care, Ranjan Singh highlighted the benefits of ‘Madhyan’, a bio fertilizer. He demonstrated the method of preparation and explained its use to the farmers.
In the afternoon session, Head of the Department from International Panaacea Limited, Dr. Ranvir Singh gave a power presentation on ‘Sustainable Organic Input Production Management & their Field Application’.
Mr. Singh highlighted the subjects of each and every input bio fertilizer and bio pesticide used in organic farming. In the hilly region, red ants are one of the major problems in the farmers field, it was informed. There are various types of bio pesticides for plant growth, nitrogen fixing, soil fertility management etc. which will be helpful for our farmers, he added.
At the end of the session Deputy Director, Mr Giri highlighted the importance of the coordination meeting between field functionaries of the department and the service provider agency, the release mentions. It helps to build capacity and helps the farmer community too because we all are working for the welfare and betterment of the farmer community, he said.
The date for the next coordination meeting will be intimated to the service providers later, he informed and thanked all the participants of the meeting.

Sikkim Organic Mission logo design submission date extended

GANGTOK, 09 Oct: The Sikkim Organic Mission had recently invited local designers to design a new logo for the Mission.
A press release informs that on scrutiny of the entries received the Selection Committee could not finalize the logo as none of the designs submitted met the expectations of the Committee.
The Sikkim Organic Mission is therefore inviting more innovative designs. The last date for the submission of designs has been extended up to 10 November, 2013.
The logo should be submitted both in soft copy format as well as coloured print outs. The content of the logo should be “SIKKIM ORGANIC”. The soft copies of the designs should be mailed to sikkimorganicmission@gmail.com. The submitted logo should be of a minimum of 300 dpi resolution and CMYK colour scheme.
A cash prize of Rs. 15,000 shall be awarded to the designer of the selected logo. The interested designer should submit their logos as mentioned above to the Additional Executive Director, Sikkim Organic Mission, Krishi Bhawan, Tadong, Gangtok before 10 November, 2013. The decision of the selection committee shall be final and binding. No claims of any kind will be entertained.
For any further enquiries please contact 9002728602.

Review held for Organic Mission service providers

GANGTOK, 06 Oct: A daylong review meeting and staff training for personnel of International Panacea and Concede, was jointly organized by the two organisations at the SAMETI Hall, ICAR Complex, on 04 October, a press release informs. This was as part of the Sikkim Organic Mission.
70 field staff of IPL and Concede and official of the Agriculture Department attended the training which had Khorlo Bhutia, Director Horticulture, KK Pradhan, Addl. Ed. Dir. (SOM), and Dorjee Tenzing Bhutia, Sr. Consultant, SOM, Dr. Ranvir Singh, HOD, (IPL), Dr. Kuldeep Rai, (Spices Board), Shri MK Pradhan, Jt. Dir. (SOM) as resource persons.

Week-long training on pest and disease management concludes at Samdong

MANGAN, 01 Oct: As part of the state government’s mission to convert Sikkim into a fully organic state by 2015, the Sikkim Organic Mission conducted Pest Disease Management training in different GPUs of East and South Sikkim which concluded here at Lower Samdong ward of Samdong-Kambal GPU of Tumin-Lingee constituency on 27 September.
The training had started from 19 September covering 31 different blocks of South and East Sikkim.  The training programme was organized by Sresta Natural Bio-products Pvt. Ltd. under ICS Service Provider Sikkim Organic Mission.
The valedictory function here was conducted at NHPC conference hall at Lower Samdong in East Sikkim on 27 September. The function was chaired by Panchayat President, Chura Kumari and attended by Joint Director, MK Pradhan, Deputy Director Horticulture, M Pulger, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Churamani Upreti, panchayat members, all VLW, HI and farmers.
The resource person of the training Dr Raghunath (Principal Scientist) highlighted on the treatment of diseased crops and precautions to be undertaken through the application of organic pesticides.  He also taught the treatment of diseased crops through the use of organic manure and its preparation. Dr. Raghunath demonstrated the preparation of organic pesticides.
The Joint Director, MK Pradhan urged the people to be more involved in the organic mission where the government aims to make Sikkim an organic state by 2015. The function ended with the vote of thanks delivered by Field Manager, Yadu Gautam.

Training on Internal Control System development held in South Sikkim

NAMCHI, 09 Feb: A three-day orientation-cum-training programme on Internal Control System[ICS] under the Sikkim Organic Mission started from today here at the District Administrative Conference Hall, South Sikkim.
The training is organised by MORARKA GDC Rural Research Foundation in collaboration with the Department of FS & AD and H & CCD, Sikkim. The training was attended by Zilla Panchayats, Panchayats, VLOs, field officers and staff.
Today in the inaugural day of the training, Project Officer MORARKA Foundation, Mohan Lal Chowdhari was the resource person who highlighted the objectives of this training programme and informed that Sikkim is working towards developing ICS which is a process for the certification of organic farming and involves step-by-step procedures and record maintenance by farmers.
Therefore, he said, cooperation of farmers is essential in order to get the correct information and records to achieve the target of the Government of Sikkim of being an Organic State by 2015. He further detailed the guidelines prepared for the service providers, certification agencies and concerned officers for ICS development. The programme was also attended by the officers form Horticulture Department.

12,000 farmers receive C1 Certificates attesting their produce as Organic

ORGANIC MISSION COMPLETES PHASE-1 TARGET
GANGTOK, 09 Dec: The State Government has been working on a war-footing to achieve the target of making 50,000 hectares of cultivable land fully organic in order to make Sikkim an Organic State by 2015. The State Organic Mission was officially launched by the Chief Minister on 15 August 2010.
Addressing a press conference at Chintan Bhawan today, Agriculture and Horticulture Secretary, Vishal Chauhan, informed that this week was an important milestone for the State towards achieving this target as 18,000 hectares taken up in the first phase received the C1 certificate.

Mangthang farmers briefed on organic agricultural production and disease control

GANGTOK, 20 Nov: International Panacea Ltd., Sikkim, organized an awareness programme on agricultural production and disease control under the State Organic Farming Mission for the farmers at Mangthang under Tumin Lingzey GPU on 17 Nov, informs an official press release. 

Sikkim Organic Mission impresses at BioFach India

GANGTOK, 18 Nov [IPR]: Sikkim has been actively participating in the annual International Organic Trade Fair BioFach India for the last three years and in BioFach Germany for the last two years. The Biofach India 2011 was held at the Palace Grounds, Bangalore from November 10-12, and was participated by the Sikkim Organic Mission, Government of Sikkim, in a grand manner as a Gold Partner.

First external audit of Sikkim Organic Mission gets underway, certificates expected by November

GANGTOK, 22 Aug: International Panaceae Limited from New Delhi is one of the service providers mandated by the Sikkim Organic Mission to establish Internal Control Systems (ICS) for organic certification for the year 2010-11. IPL has been given charge of an area of 2000 hectare covering the GPUs of Central Pendam, East Pendam, Sumin Ligzey and Pacheykhani in East Sikkim. OneCert Asia Certifications of Jaipur has been chosen as the External Certifying Agency.