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Challenges In Organic certification In India. Sanjay Deshmukh CEO Natural Organic Certification Association NOCA Pune. General Thought There is no certification for inorganic products so why should there be for organic products?
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Challenges In Organic certification In India Sanjay Deshmukh CEO Natural Organic Certification Association NOCA Pune
General Thought There is no certification for inorganic products so why should there be for organic products? If you buy wheat from a store, you buy on the basis of the sheer fact that it is branded, you don't ask whether it has been blended with chemicals and in what quantities."
The Need When organic farmers and traders are operating in an anonymous market, certification is developed to show and guarantee to consumers that a product has been produced in consistency with organic standards.
Balance of interests • consumer requests healthy and environmentally sound products is willing to pay premium price Trust • farmer/processor is producing according to certain standards(may be putting higher labour etc) is getting access to premium price markets
Certification Constraints • Very high fees for certification by certifying agencies. • Awareness of group certification among small & medium farmers. • Small and medium-sized Indian organic producers not able to access international markets because of no-certified produce. • certification procedure affordable,simple and farmer friendly. • Need of certification in domestic market.
Our National Standards (NSOP) 3.3 Animal Husbandry 3.4 Food Processing /Handling 3.2Crop Production Organic Standards 3.5 Labelling 3.1General 3.6 Storage & Transport
Issues While certification has provided Indian-produced organic products with inroads into foreign markets, domestic bound produce is largely uncertified, owing to the fact that most producers are either small or marginal farmers, small cooperatives or fair trade companies.
Under current government policy and as per the standards, it takes approximately three years for a farm in conversion to be certified as organic, and costs are hefty for the small farmer.
While internationally, our exports cannot hold ground without certification, uncertified brands in India have had some success. Still the domestic market has not developed for the certified organic produce and demand for safe, pure and healthy food is slowly increasing.
In developed countries, especially in Europe and the US, every supermarket has a green line where a complete range of certified organic products is available. India is just beginning to manage to hold in some supermarkets
Accreditation Procedure by which an authoritative body gives a formal recognition that a body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks. Certification The procedure by which a third party gives written assurance that a clearly identified process has been methodically assessed such that adequate confidence is provided that specified products conform to specified requirements. Certification body The body that conducts certification. Certification Program System operated by a certification body with its own rules and procedures and management for carrying out certification of conformity.
Certification • National Standards—March 2000 • APEDA—accreditation agencies for products under their responsibility • National certification autorisation to International Certification Agencies • Most Indian exporters insist on certification by international certification bodies therefore need for equivallence. • Cost unaffordable for smallholders
Challenges In India • Market demand for export oriented commodities. • Importance of organic certification in domestic sector. • Cost- benefits of certification for individual grower. • Systems of certification. • Authenticity of certification agencies.
Solutions • Group certification. • Strong and successful ICS. • Cost of certification in Small holder group certification. • Organic management systems. • Certification standards and their interpretation. • Promotion of India organic logo in India and Abroad.
Small Holder group certification Small Holder group certification: A group of homogenous farmers, practicing organic agriculture come under one umbrella to form a small holder group, for the reason of getting organic certification, developing ICS for meeting the requirements of certification ).
Issues in group certification Schemes Awareness of Organic farming practices and its need. Standard organic package of practices. Awareness in organic farm documentation and certification. Knowledge about certification standards and interpretation of standards in local language. Internal control system- a tool required for carrying out-group certification. Maintaining and updating the farm records. Use of non-conformed products. Surveillance by the certification body. Chances of mal practice in collection and supply chain.