The Hindu Business Line : `Urea not allowed in organic farming'

The Indian Organic Certification Agency (Indocert), certifying according to the Indian, EU and US organic standards, has said urea is not permitted in organic farming.

Some farmers are reported to have used urea in their organic paddy cultivation, which is not permitted, Mr Mathew Sebastian, Executive Director, Indocert, told Business Line. The organic standards "have clearly banned the use of urea as input for organic farming. Indocert, (for the matter all certification bodies) is bound by the standards and cannot allow exceptions on use of urea and other chemicals," he said.

On the use of urea in the organic paddy cultivation by farmers of Adat Farmers' Cooperative Bank, he said: "Indocert has not allowed the said farmers group to use 50 kg of urea."

Principles of organic farming

The principle of organic farming is to allow nature to provide us food the way nature intended.

Organics is about producing healthy food and fibre without the use of synthetic agri-chemicals, while ensuring animal welfare and environmental sustainability.

It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological balance.

Organic in practice

In organic farming, rather than using synthetic pesticides to kill pests, farmers prevent pests by planting a bio-diverse range of crops, by rotation, and using natural, biological and environment-friendly sprays. This means no artificial pesticides, no herbicides, no hormones and no growth promoters or food irradiation. Organics also prohibits the use of GMOs - or genetic engineering. Organic standards clearly define the allowed and prohibited production and processing methods.

In 2000, the Government of India released the National Standards for Organic Products (NSOP) under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). Products sold or labelled as `organic' needed to be inspected and certified by a nationally accredited certification body.

Organic standards

Minimum requirements for a farm or product to be certified as `organic' are precisely defined by organic standards. There are organic standards on the national as well as international level. For certification, the standards of the target market or importing country are relevant.

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