Organic farmers want certification cost lowered

Organic farmers want certification cost lowered

Sub: Geo

Sec: Eco Geo

Context: The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Agency (Apeda), an arm of the Commerce Ministry, is unable to help farmers get certification for their organic produce at a lower cost.

The cost of certification by various agencies/companies for individual farmers is over ₹1 lakh, which they cannot afford

Certification of Organic Products in India

Any organic food manufactured, packed, sold, offered for sale, marketed or otherwise distributed in the country is regulated as per the provisions of Food Safety and Standards (Organic Food) Regulations, 2017, which were notified on 29.12.2017 and enforced from 01.07.2018. These regulations require Organic Food to comply with the provisions of National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) or Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). However, to support small original organic producer or producer organisation, those with annual turnover not exceeding 12 lakhs per annum have been exempted from certification through NPOP or PGS. The Organic food covered through these regulations should bear FSSAI organic logo i.e. Jaivik Bharat logo along with PGS- Organic (or) India Organic logo. Jaivik Kheti portal (https://www.jaivikkheti.in/) has also been created for promotion and sale of organic produce to connect farmers involved in organic farming with consumers directly for better prices. Already 80,000 farmers are registered on the portal. 

• Third-party certification  of National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) and the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS).
• In terms of market development, there is a dedicated ‘Jaivik Kheti’ portal
• there is evidence of low awareness regarding traceability norms among growers registered in the TraceNet scheme of APEDA

National Programme for Organic Production

• NPOP launched during 2001 was the first such quality assurance initiative by the Government of India under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The NPOP not only provided the institutional framework for accreditation of certification agencies and operationalization of certification programme through its accredited certification bodies but also ensures that the system effectively works and is monitored on regular basis.
• During 2004 the NPOP was brought under the ambit of Foreign Trade Development and Regulation (FTDR) Act wherein it was mandated that no organic products can be exported unless they are certified under NPOP.

Participatory Guarantee System

• To make the certification system affordable and accessible without the need for third party certification agencies a farmer group centric certification system was also launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under PGS-India programme for local and domestic market.
• Both the programmes (NPOP and PGS-India) are independent of each other and products certified under one system cannot be processed or labeled under another system.
• While NPOP certified products can be traded in export and in the domestic market including imports, PGS-India certified products can be traded only in the domestic market.