Apeda plans to revamp, improve National Programme for Organic Production standards

APEDA to improve organic farming standards

The government’s agri export promotion body Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) is planning to revamp and improve the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) standards and may soon ease procedures for better participation of small farmers.

These steps, along with a focus on organic variety with Geographical Indication (GI) products, may help the country to further expand exports of organic produce, which grew 51% to $1.04 billion during FY21.

“For better reach out and promotion, revamping and improving of NPOP standards are necessary. Besides, there is scope to revise procedural issues for better participation and response from the farmers,” M Angamuthu, chairman of Apeda, told FE. He also said that GI products like Arakku coffee, Darjeeling tea, which are sold at premium over normal coffee and tea, can fetch even more when these commodities are certified as organic. Apeda grants organic certification to products that follow NPOP standards.

India’s exports of organic products have grown from $13 million in FY03 to $1.04 billion during FY21. Except in FY20 when there was a decline, the shipments of these commodities registered 25-47% growth every year, y-o-y, between FY17 and FY19.