Why in news?

• European Union blacklisted five Indian organic certification agencies and raised concerns about the certification process.

What are Organic products?

• Organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with an environmentally and socially responsible approach.
• This is a method of farming that works at grass root level, preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to diseases.
• India is bestowed with lot of potential to produce all varieties of organic products due to its various agro climatic conditions.
• In several parts of the country, the inherited tradition of organic farming is an added advantage.
• This holds promise for the organic producers to tap the market which is growing steadily in the domestic and export sector.
• As per the available statistics, India ranks 8th in terms of World’s Organic Agricultural land and 1st in terms of total number of producers as per 2020 data.

Certification of Organic Product in India

• India Organic is a certification mark for organically farmed food products manufactured in India. The certification mark certifies that an organic food product conforms to the National Standards for Organic Products established
  in 2000.
• These standards ensures that the product or the raw materials used in the product are:

1. grown through organic farming
2. without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or induced hormones

• The certification is issued by testing centres accredited by the Agriculture And Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the National Program for Organic Production of the Government of India.
• The APEDA, Ministry of Commerce & Industries, Government of India is implementing the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).
• The programme involves the accreditation of Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming and marketing etc.
• The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system have been recognized by European Commission for unprocessed plant products.
• With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certification bodies of India are accepted by the importing countries.

Growth in India’s organic product export

• Export of organic products from India grew 51% to $1.04 billion in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20.
• According to a report by US Department of Agriculture (USDA), India’s organic products market - food and beverages, health and wellness, beauty and personal care and textiles – are estimated to grow to $10.1 billion by 2026, against $1.04 billion in 2020-21.

Challenges to Export of India Organic product

• The biggest challenge in organic products marketing is assured product integrity.
• Challenges related to India’s organic control system and increased incidences of fraud continue to impact the credibility of India’s organic sector.
• The problem with regard to organic certification is that loopholes in the system are used by unscrupulous elements.
• Maintaining sustainability in the global economy and balancing organic principles with commercial imperatives.
• Pursuing international harmonization of standards and certification.
• The guidelines for organic production, processing, transportation and certification etc are beyond the understanding of ordinary Indian farmer.
• Pesticide issues: European Union blacklisted 5 Indian organic certification agencies and raised concerns about the country’s process because some shipments cleared by them failed to meet the norms for ethylene oxide (ETO) presence.
• Developing locally applicable agronomic solutions to production constraints, such as weeds, animal health and soil fertility.

Way Forward

• In the long-term, creation of a Natural and Organic Agriculture Promotion Board to perform focused and large scale activities should be the road map to boost organic product.
• The certification process should be made leak proof.
• As many as 44 per cent (or 2.32 million) of the world’s certified organic farmers are from India, the highest in the world. Still, India’s total certified organic area is about 2.3 million hectares, as against world’s total area of 72.3 million hectares.
• There is a need to build an effective policy environment to build foreign trust in India’s organic product.