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Abstract
Assam is the land of monsoons and evergreen forests is rediscovering its ancient farming practices which are committed to socially responsible, ecologically friendly and economically self sustainable development. Assam’s potential for organic farming is enormous that is, ‘naturally organic by default’ and can be gauged from the extremely low consumption of the fertilizer in the region. Farmers in this region often use organic manure as a source of nutrients. Those farmers which are living in hillside, untrained by pollutants and away from hazards of modernity are now tapping into ancient secrets of sustainable farming – they are rediscovering the benefits of traditional and holistic farming that maintain soil health and bio-diversity. According to government figures, of the net cultivated area of 4.3 million hectares, around 30.92 lakh hectares have never seen the use of chemical or inorganic fertilizers, conscious organic farming has suddenly picked up across Assam, especially among those cultivating ginger, turmeric, oranges, black pepper, pineapples and tea since the demand for organic food is increasing worldwide. Despite of huge potentiality in the progress of the organic farming in Assam the inability of the government policy making level to take a firm decision to promote organic agriculture arise as the main obstacle. Lack of financial supports to promote organic farming, subsidy on chemical fertilizers, cheap imported fertilizers from Bangladesh puts some problems to growing organic farming in Assam. The purpose of present study is to gain insight into the prospects of growing organic farming in Assam. In addition, it will focus on highlighting various challenges of organic farming in Assam as well.