Agri Ministry mulls new certification system for organic cotton, derivatives

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare plans to come up with a new certification system for organic cotton and its derivatives as part of its efforts to promote Indian export. 

The initiative comes after representations from service organisations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the notification of the “Indian Standard for Organic Textiles” to protect Indian organic cotton and the textiles industry. 

To come up with the new certification system, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has set up a committee to look into the issues of organic certification of cotton and its derivatives. 

Stakeholders feedback

The committee will consider the possibility of launching the new certification system under the Agriculture Ministry with the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies and the Quality Council of India being part of it. 

As part of this initiative, the Agriculture Ministry will hold a stakeholders meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, where the “need and relevance for another certification system with special focus on cotton and textile value chain” will be discussed. 

The stakeholders have been urged to suggest the scope of the sector to be covered, collect and provide feedback from various stakeholders, including private label operators, a communication sent by the Ministry said. 

Current market control

Last month, a Chennai-based service organisation wrote to Modi on how India remains a raw material supplier to Bangladesh due to the lack of a domestic textile standard for organic cotton. 

Currently, private organic textile standards such as Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) and Textile Exchange control the global market, reducing India to a mere raw material supplier in the organic textile segment, the organisation said. 

On November 18, 2014, the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)  issued an order on “Procedure for Export of Certified Organic Products”. The export of organic textiles was brought under Indian Standard for Organic Textiles through the notice. 

Seeking deferment

However, the organic textile industry urged the Centre to defer the implementation of the Indian standard to adjust to the new regime.  On December 18, 2014, the order was stayed by the DGFT until further orders. 

On May 5, 2015, the DGFT issued another order saying that the procedure for export of all certified organic products, included in the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), will come into effect, except for textiles from June 1, 2015. 

Currently, manufacturers and exporters of organic textiles are getting certified under GOTS to promote India’s organic textiles. But, Germany-based GOTS is not a government label but a “private standard” and “private label”.

As there is no link between NPOP and GOTS, the quantity of organic cotton produced under NPOP and taken as input by certification bodies or trade is a grey area and matter of concern, the Chennai-based organisation contended. 

‘Do reconciling audit’

Trade and certification bodies are allegedly rotating the same stock of organic cotton to generate a large volume of organic textiles. The real situation will be known only if a “reconciling audit of organic textile goods produced under GOTS and organic cotton” is done. 

The request to defer the 2014 order to implement the Indian Standard of Organic Textiles was because it was “far superior” to GOTS. The textile industry sought one year for implementing the standard. Seven years have since passed since then for manufacturers and exporters to have “voluntarily complied” with the Indian standard. 

The organisation pointed out that in the value chain of organic textiles, the government’s monitoring ends with organic cotton. This leaves its derivatives such as yarn, fabrics, made-ups and garments unregulated. 

As a result, the country is dependent on private standards to promote organic textiles in domestic and international markets. 

Trade sources said the Agriculture Ministry’s initiative on setting up a panel is primarily to promote indigenous varieties of cotton and organic cotton and their derivatives.

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