It has taken some time for India to become active in organic agriculture and organic marketing, but the subcontinent is now picking up speed. A whole series of large-scale initiatives have been created in the past years. Its appearance in Nuremberg as Country of the Year at BioFach in February 2012.<br>Export as key pillar of organic marketing<br>India started exporting mainly tea to Europe in the early. Today a large selection of approx. 300 products is available in some 20 product categories: from tea, spices, fruit, rice, corn and vegetables to finished products and organic cotton. More than 40% of the products are exported to Europe. Export is a mainstay of organic marketing and is to be expanded further to reach a volume of one billion US dollars by 2015. <br>Varied organic trading landscape developing at national level<br>The domestic market is not being forgotten either. Indian companies are in the process of developing or expanding diverse marketing channels. According to information from the official Indian export development organization APEDA, there are currently about 2,000 shops selling organic products. The conventional trade also stocks organic products on its shelves. Annual sales were some 543 million US dollars in 2010. <br><br>Extension of organic growing area planned<br>There is also a great deal happening at the agricultural production level. The area currently farmed by organic methods is about 1.2 million hectares, plus several hundred thousand hectares in the conversion phase. The organic farming area is to be increased to five million hectares in the coming years according to the ambitious plans, for which both the national government and many federal states will provide funds. The Ministry of Commerce is also involved and takes care of developing the marketing measures for the domestic market and export.<br><br>Fonte: Oneco, 19 gennaio 2012, <a href="http://oneco.biofach.de/">http://oneco.biofach.de/</a><br><br><br>