India’s national organic policy to be revised, monitoring to be bolstered

Policies and procedures of India’s National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) will be revised and it will include measures to strengthen the monitoring system, the Commerce Ministry has told a Chennai-based voluntary services organisation.

“... as per the directions of the NAB (National Accreditation Board), a committee is being constituted for revision of NPOP policy and procedures,” the Ministry told the Shree Shree Shree Swami Vivekananda Trust (SSVT).

Suggestions received from the stakeholders, including from the trust, will be placed before the committee for perusal, he said.

Best policy, but...

The Ministry was responding to a letter from SSVT on July 8 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking “an honest introspection to revamp the organic enforcement system”. SSVT said a recent audit of the European Commission emphasised the NPOP launched in 2001 as one of the best policy and procedural documents. 

“It is also a fact that the European Commission audit cited lapses in the enforcement in our organic agriculture. Our Trust wrote letters on January 5, February 7 and April 8 highlighting numerous pitfalls with the view of protecting Bharat’s interests…,” SSVT said.  

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There was an immediate need to nominate competent auditors to conduct due diligence on enforcement procedures and implementation of organic farming at the level of certification bodies besides APEDA. This will help protect and preserve the label and authenticity of organic produce in the country, it said.

SSVT stressed the need for due diligence in view of repeated breach of rules, while some bodies were habitual offenders (change of promoters and entity names) in the organic agriculture certifications.

Aadhaar linkage

Referring to the allegations of duplication of farmers in growing organic produce, Commerce Ministry’s Verma said the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is making provisions for linkage of Aadhaar, land documents in the online system for further strengthening the system.

However, trade sources said the Ministry has been talking of such linkages for quite sometime but nothing has happened yet. 

The SSVT said the role of APEDA, the nodal agency for organic exports, as secretariat and evaluation committee is vital in facilitating the decision-making process of NAB. “Out of 36 evaluation committee members, it is interesting to note that 10 members belong to APEDA and Commodity Boards,” it said. 

The Minister, however, has said internationally laid down procedures are being followed in the organic certification process. 

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Farm ministr’s move

However, the trust said since the evaluation committee was the pillar of NPOP enforcement, its selection suggests that “there is a weak and fragile approach imbibed in the institutional framework at this level”.  

The Commerce Ministry’s communication complements a move by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. 

In February this year, the Ministry said it plans to come up with a new certification system for organic cotton and its derivatives as part of its efforts to promote Indian export. 

Indian organic exports have been under pressure in view of various shortcomings being reported from abroad, especially the European Union, in shipments of organic products.

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