NEW DELHI: In a move towards sustainable nutrition, the Indian Army has made its first-ever request to the consumer affairs department — responsible for creating and maintaining the country’s buffer stock of pulses — for the supply of organic pulses for its personnel.Organic pulses, grown without using synthetic pesticides, improve heart health, regulate blood sugar and aid weight management.TOI has learnt that work has started to procure and deliver organic pulses to the over 12.5-lakh strong force as a pilot, initially for a few tonnes. Govt cooperatives Nafed and NCCF have been tasked to identify sources for procurement of organic pulses and work out the supply chain from storage to delivery.“Discussions are going on with some farmer producer organisations (FPOs), other such entities and farmers producing organic. The procurement price of these pulses would be higher. But with the Army indicating to buy this, everything will be worked out,” said a person involved in the process. “Organic pulses have lesser shelf life and so we have to have a proper supply chain from farmgate to the consumption point. Proper certification of such pulses is also key.”Officials said the pilot, in a way, will help put an institutional requirement in place to encourage farmers to produce organic pulses as there will be assured demand. There are over half a dozen FPOs in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand which have over 100 tonnes of organic pulses, including chana, green gram, moong, urad and tur, they said.Current;y, organic agricultural products can use “Natural Farming Certified” only after “PGS India Natural” status to a product is assigned. This is a decentralised, peer-reviewed certification system for chemical-free farming under the agriculture ministry. It verifies that a farmer’s crops are grown without synthetic fertilisers.Organic products are also certified by independent third-party agencies govt accredited under govt’s National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) and are typically sold under the Jaivik Bharat mark governed by FSSAI, the country’s food safety regulator.
