ORGANIC FARMING

ORGANIC FARMING AND NATIONAL PROGRAMME ON ORGANIC PRODUCTION (NPOP)

National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP)

The National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) proposes to provide an institutional mechanism for the implementation of national standards for organic products through certification programmes for organic agriculture and products as per internationally approved criteria, thus encouraging the development of organic farming and organic processing.  The programme includes policiesfor development and certification of organic products, national standards for organic products and processes, accreditation of programmes to be operated by Inspection and Certification Agencies and certification of organic products.

Operational Structure of NPOP

The operational structure of NPOP is given in the following figure.  The programme will be developed and implemented by the Government of India through its Ministry of Commerce as the apex body.  The Ministry will constitute a Steering Committee for National Programme for Organic Production, whose members will be drawn from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Coffee Board, Spices Board and Tea Board and other government and private organizations associated with the organic movement.  To advice the Steering Committee on relevant issues, sub-committees will be appointed whenever necessary. 

The Steering Committee will formulate a National Accreditation Policy and Programme and draw up National Standards for Organic Products (NSOP), which will include standards for organic production and processes.  National Accreditation Policy and Programme will be administered by the Accreditation Agency, which will define the overall policy objectives for the accreditation programmes and operations.  The Steering Committee may amend the accreditation procedures whenever it deems fit.  The National Accreditation Policy and Programme is subject to periodic internal review, which will be conducted by the members of Accreditation Agency who will advice the Steering Committee on such amendments.

The Accreditation Agencies will be constituted by the Government on the recommendation of the Steering Committee.  APEDA, Coffee Board, Tea Board and Spices Board have already been recognized by the Government of India as Accreditation Agencies.  Any other Government agency engaged in organic farming, which wants to be accredited, may apply to the Steering Committee for recognition as Accreditation Agency for the product dealt with by them.  The work of the Accreditation Agency will involve drawing up procedures for evaluation and certification of the products, and formulating procedures for evaluation of the agencies implementing the programmes.

Evaluating Agency

Eligible Inspection and Certification Agencies implementing certification programmes will be identified by the Accreditation Agency with the help of an Evaluating Agency.  Evaluating Agency will be appointed by the Accreditation Agency, which may consist of persons from within their organization or experts from outside.  The evaluating agency will designate a Programme Manager for receiving and screening applications from certification programmes,  for arranging evaluation visits etc. to ascertain the credentials of the programmes and of the implementing agencies.  The Programme Manager will submit an evaluation report along with their recommendation to the Accreditation Agency for considering accreditation.

Accredited Inspection and Certification Agencies

Based on the recommendations of the Evaluating Agency, suitable Inspection and Certification Agencies will be accredited by the Accreditation Agency.  These agencies should be well versed with the operating procedures, the NSOP and the international standards.  Their programmes should have been in operation for at least one year and they should be able to provide the supporting documents.

Inspectors

The inspectors appointed by the accredited Inspection and Certification Agencies will carry out inspection of the operations through records maintained by the operators as per specified formats and also by periodic site inspection.  Based on compliance to the standards and programmes, accredited Inspection and Certification Agencies will certify the organic status of products and operations, indicating their conditions along with their recommendations.

Last updated: 04-1-2008