Implementation of NPOP

Ministry of Commerce has implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) since 2001. The objectives of NPOP are as under:

1)  To provide the means of evaluation of certification programme for organic agriculture and products (including wild harvest, aquaculture, livestock products) as per the approved criteria.

2)   To accredit certification programmes of Certification Bodies seeking accreditation.

3)   To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity with the prescribed standards.

4)   To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity with the importing countries organic standards as per equivalence agreement between the two countries or as per importing country requirements.

5)   To encourage the development of organic farming and organic processing.

The standards of Organic Crop Production have been described in Appendix 1 of Chapter 3 of NPOP document The production standards include crop production plan, conversion requirement, nutrient management, disease management etc for agricultural crops. There are no separate prescribed production standards for pulses.

The organic pulses certified under NPOP are being cultivated in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh/Telengana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, H.P, Odisha and Punjab.

The certified production of organic pulses under NPOP, including in conversion, for the last three years is as under:

Source: APEDA

Any agricultural product certified as organic under NPOP has to be certified by an accredited certification body under NPOP for exports. As per the inspection and certification procedures as prescribed under chapter 4 clause 4.3 of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) Document, the Certification Bodies accredited under NPOP conduct inspection before certifying the operators as organic.  After inspection and compliance to the requirement by the certified operators, certification decision is taken by the Certification Body and Scope Certificate is issued having a validity of one year.     

Organic products are traded only through issuance of Transaction Certificates (TCs) wherein the product identity and traceability is maintained. The TCs are also issued only by the accredited Certification Bodies. All the handlers of the product in the supply chain are required to be in the certification system under NPOP and need to obtain TC whenever the product is traded.

As prescribed under NPOP Chapter 4, clause 4.3.1.4 under Analysis and Residue Testing, the testing is to be carried out in ISO 17025 accredited and preferably APEDA approved laboratories. The list of APEDA approved laboratories is at Annexure-I

This information was given by the Commerce and Industry Minister  Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

ANNEXURE-I