The scope of the NPOP is comprehensive. It includes policies for the development and certification of organic products and nationalstandards for those products and processes. The NPOP also takes into account accreditation of programs to be operated by inspectionand certification agencies, along with the certification of organic products.
Organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with an environmentallyand socially responsible approach. This is a method of farming that works at grass root level preserving the reproductive andregenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which hasresistance to diseases.
India is bestowed with a lot of potentials to produce all varieties of organic products due to its various Agro-climatic regions. In severalparts of the country, the inherited tradition of organic farming is an added advantage. This hold promises for the organic producers totap the market which is growing steadily in the domestic and export market.
As per the available statistics, India’s rank in terms of World’s Organic Agricultural land was 9th and in terms of the total number ofproducers was 1st as per 2018 data (Source: FIBL & IFOAM Year Book 2018).
The Government of India has implemented the National program for Organic Production (NPOP). The national program involves theaccreditation program for Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming etc. The NPOP standardsfor production and accreditation system have been recognized by the European Commission and Switzerland for unprocessed plantproducts as equivalent to their country standards. Similarly, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures ofaccreditation as equivalent to that of US. With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certificationbodies of India are accepted by the importing countries