This was mentioned a few times during our course. It was mentioned by some visiting professors in the same breath as exporting organic. I just looked up their website and it is not clear if the motivation behind this is primarily to export. Nonetheless, it seems great that such an initiative has come from the government. The website talks about the green revolution does not make much sense in the mountains. 500l of water are needed to dissolve 1kg of urea, it says. And follows it up with the following quip: “It is a million dollar question to answer- “what would replace the 1.5 lakh hectare of dry land farm area of finger millet and other course grain in Uttarakhand”.”
The website mentions several crops that have been growing in the region for ages and they seem keen on promoting these which I think is awesome. I have my reservations about an export-driven mentality for that is not ecologically sound, both in times of food miles and because nutrients from a region are just being packed and sent far off. Organic food, I believe is not the prerogative of those who can afford it.
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