APEDA to Simplify NOC for Organic Farmers; Experts Desire More

If farmers want to switch certification agencies for organic produce, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has proposed that they apply online for a no objection certificate (NOC). However, experts believe the move falls short of the goal of ensuring a farmer's "hassle-free and time-bound" transition from one agency to another.

The issue has been pending since last year, when it was discovered in Madhya Pradesh that fictitious organic produce growers' groups were listed in the National Programme for Organic Production's (NPOP) internal control system (ICS). APEDA later suspended some certification firms, while others announced the discontinuation of certification in commodities such as cotton and soyabean.

In March of this year, some farmer groups approached APEDA, complaining that they were not receiving a NOC from the mandator and wishing to switch to another certification agency or form a different grower group. Mandator is the intermediary between the farmer and the trader.

Following this, APEDA has proposed that farmers fill out details such as name, address, contact number, Aadhaar, and registration number online on a portal, which will be validated via SMS, according to sources. According to the sources, this will reduce the role of mandators, and no NOC will be required from them to switch to a new certification body.

However, experts point out that many farmers are unaware of their own organic "registration number" because the mandators keep those data, and if farmers are asked to include it in the online form, they will have to contact the mandators again to obtain it.

APEDA allowed farmers to seek assistance from certification agencies if any mandator refused to issue a NOC in 2016. Still, it has been observed that exporters, mandators, and certification bodies all work together as a result, and farmers don't receive redress.

According to trade policy analyst S Chandrasekaran, this APEDA initiative will allow an organic farmer to obtain a NOC from his existing grower group and join a new grower group that he or she wishes to join. This is not, however, the final solution; he also stated that the NOC should be time-bound and hassle-free.

"The farmer's identification number is never shared with his members by the grower groups." Organic farmers will struggle to exercise their rights until transparency improves. For example, English is the language used by APEDA's organic agriculture software, TRACENET. Farmers will not be able to access it unless it is also available in Hindi and other regional languages." Chandrasekaran inquired.

According to experts, the lack of financial audit in NPOP is a source of pilferage of organic farmers' income and a weakness in the system in supporting the profiteering activities of mandators and traders. Furthermore, the high certification cost and NPOP's built-in manoeuvring procedures to protect trader interests in grower groups prevent individual organic farmers and co-operatives from participating in the organic agriculture movement, according to Chandrasekaran.

During 2021-22, the export of organic products certified under the NPOP Standards was 4.60 lakh tonnes ($ 771.96 million). The United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Ecuador are major export destinations. Other organically grown exported items besides cotton include processed food, oilseeds, spices, rice, and millet.