Apeda develops organic produce standards

In order to overcome the certification hurdles faced by the country's organic farm produce in the world markets, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) has devised a certification procedure, acceptable internationally, for fruits and vegetables grown organically.

The procedure, which was being discussed by the Apeda representatives in recent world forum meetings, is likely to formally receive the "equivalent" status in March this year.

Sanjay Dave, Apeda director said that the development is a major breakthrough for Indian organic farmers as it will bring down the cost of their produce substantially.

"Indian produce, though acceptable in all other respects, is not competitive as the certification cost push up its price," he said. The Indian certification procedures, based on the international norms are any way far stricter than the ones followed by many European countries, he pointed.

Currently, the organically grown agricultural produce exported from India needs certification from European agencies that charge up to ¤500 as fee. When the Indian certification process will be accepted as equivalent to that of the Euro certification, coupled with the peculiar Indian practice of group certification, it will make Indian products cost-competitive, Dave said.

Realising the need for more certifying bodies to support organic farmers, Apeda has appealed to the respective state governments to involve non-government organisations who can take up certification work. In fact, qualified agriculturists can look forward to this as an important profession, he pointed out.

Apeda has urged the states to identify potential items in each district and assign teams of agriculture graduates to develop model farms for each of the produce. These teams can also coordinate better with the certifying bodies.

The organically grown Indian agri-produce has been growing in demand abroad as items such as tea, coffee, spices, cashew nut, walnut, rice, honey, mangoes or cotton have been highly popular.

"Organic farm produce exports today stand at Rs 140 crore per year. This amount may look small in comparison to the total agri-export from the country, but is growing at over 25 per cent rate and may grow more as the impediments are removed," Dave averred.

Development banks too are boosting the sector; Nabard has announced an investment subsidy scheme for commercial biofertiliser production units.

The scheme, formulated under the National Project on Organic Farming, envisages provision of 25 per cent subsidy of capital cost of the project subject to a ceiling of Rs 20 lakh for bio-fertiliser, Rs 1.5 lakh for vermiculture hatcheries and Rs 40 lakh for fruit and vegetable waste compost production units. The rest of the project cost would have to come from bank loan (50 per cent) and promoters' margin (25 per cent).

Nabard sources said an aggregate sum of Rs 23 crore has been earmarked for this scheme, which will remain in force till March 2007.