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Center of Organic Farming - I
UOCB has successfully completed three years of project COF-I supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), Mumbai under the Himmothan Pariyojna initiative. COF came into existence in July 2003 and concluded in December 2006 after taking a no cost extension for another six months. COF was meant to provide Technical assistance , Market linkage , Trainings & demonstration to the selected areas under the on-going organic initiatives of the state of Uttarakhand. Towards the end of the project an impact assessment study was conducted with the technical expertise of a private consultancy firm MARCH , Hyderabad , which analysed the impact of organic farming on livelihood of the beneficiaries.
COF I Brief Profile
COF -1 was designed as Human resource component, where the three main sectors of marketing, technical support and internal control for certification were to be developed for the organic programs being implemented in the state by the department of agriculture.
COF - 1 core staff namely Program Manager, Technical Manager, Marketing Manager & Accounts officer (Finance and Adm.) has in the last three years focused on broad banding existing pilot programs or supporting the evolving the programs into standardized patterns.
The total outlay of the program was Rs 78 lacs for duration of three years. The program was commissioned in July 2003 and ended in June 2003 with a no cost extension for six months that is Dec 2006.
During the three years the core staff along with six internal inspectors for ICS have implemented the COF -1 program, guided and implemented the National Center for Organic Farming programs, COF -2 programs, prepared and implemented the small grants programs under the National Medicinal Plant Board (GoI), Organic Basmati Export Program (SRTT), Drudgery Reduction for Women (GoUA) and a number of small grant programs from Agriculture department.
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The core group has generated funds totaling to Rs 6 crore and generated a sale of Rs 3 crore ( farm gate price) till 31st March, 2006. The sale projection for 2006-07 is Rs 4 crores.
Achievements of COF - 1
Inadvertently the achievements of the UOCB can be debited to the account of the COF -1 team. As mentioned before the newly formed institution for Organic Farming (be it the UOCB supported by the COF) had to find its feet, it had to discover its own goals and then explore its own means to achieve them. Pioneering works are targets of criticism and visible failure in many ways is caused by the discerning and doubting Thomas's present.
Organics got the patronizing cover of the government and the team in question got the freedom and space to function.
Few notable qualitative and quantifiable achievements have been mentioned in the annual reports and the subsequent reports made.
Perhaps some of the most notable achievement of COF is found in the inclination of the different agencies be they voluntary agencies, farmer groups, scientific institutions, government agencies etc towards the identification or adoption of the organic systems of production, research or markets. This trend firmly roots that organics has started to get mainstreamed and popular. No doubt many voluntary agencies have begun the journey entirely on their own and have not taken any input from COF presently but the fact that COF's established models for the organic programs be they for the market linkage or Internal Control Systems (ICS) and have indirectly supported the agencies in their programs. The organic movement has become popular and accepted, the voyage from ridicule to rejection to acceptance has been made.
Following are the major sections of the COF- I program. To view the detail about each segment click on the link below :
 Technical Initiatives
Organic Basmati Export Program
Study Reports
Development of Litrature
Certification
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Organic Farming in India, Organic Farming Programs, Organic Farming Certification
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