ICRIER report backs the prospects of ORGANIC farming in India

Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relation (ICRIER) released a report on 23rd, August, 2017. The report says that India need to create a time bond strategy which will take into account sustainable development goals and organic practices to facilitate a holistic growth of the organic food sector. The survey highlights the critical need to establish a uniform standard and clearly lay out the labeling requirements, logo and punishment for fraudulent practices by unscrupulous traders through a comprehensive policy. It also highlights the present unbalanced approach of only export regulation and no regulation for domestic market and imports need immediate attention. The report also asks for the urgent need for the creation of a single nodal agency for organic sector. The report titled “Organic Farming in India: Status, Issues and way Forward” has been co-authored by Arpita Mukherjee, Souvik Dutta, Tanu M. Goyal, Avantika Kapoor and Disha Mendiratta and published by the Academic Foundation of ICRIER. The report was released by Amitabh Kant (Chief Executive officer, NITI Aayog) and Ashish Bahuguna (Chairperson, FSSAI). The study was funded by Amway India. The aim of the ICRIER survey was to understand the recent trends and developments in organic farming, identify the global best practices, examine the measures taken by the government to support organic farming and organic food, Identify the issues faced by the organic farmers and organic processed food producers, exporters, importers and other supply chain agents and lastly make policy recommendation on how to design a comprehensive policy for India based on global best practices and the country own requirements. Rajat Kathuria (Director and Chief Executive ICRIER), said “India has the world’s largest number of organic producers. With a comprehensive policy package our study found that organic food sector has a potential to grow at a rate of 20%, attract domestic and foreign investment, create entrepreneurship, generate employment and help to double farmers income by 2022. For the the holistic growth of this sector we recommended the creation of a vision document- Organic Vision 2022 and Beyond, which lay down the comprehensive policy, including short term and long term objectives of the government”. Arpita Mukherjee (Co-Author of the report), said “To attract foreign investment in this sector and for the success of the Prime Minister “Make in India” campaign. India should have a comprehensive policy and uniform standard for organic encompassing the domestic market, exports and imports. Anshu Budhraja (CEO, Amway India), said “The Indian government has taken several policy initiatives to promote organic farming and we are completely aligned with the government’s philosophy of promoting organic farming in the country as it will help in doubling farmers income and ensuring Indian consumers get quality organic produce. As suggested in the survey , the organic food market in India is growing at a rate of 14% and has the potential to grow at the rate of 20%over next five years, if supported with right policies providing the necessary impetus. Amway supported ICRIER to conduct a research study to understand the current organic farming practices in India and believes that global best practices will help in the growth of the organic food sector in India”. The report files that there is an urgent need to bring clarity on the definition and Standards for Organic Food Products Growth in India and also imported into India so that there is an uniform standard for the consumers.