Thousands of organic farmers from nine districts in Madhya Pradesh have formed their own “local samitis” and want the Centre’s recognition to continue the farming, amid reports of action against certification agencies for using fictitious growers’ groups. The farmers also are exploring opportunities to sell their produce at higher prices.
“APEDA has to recognise us as separate groups for organic farming to maintain continuity as earlier some traders/companies had organised such groups,” said Dinesh Yadav, part of a 25-member group that came to Delhi earlier this week to meet government officials.
Fictitious growers
Thousands of farmers from Barwani, Burhanpur, Dhar, Harda, Jhabua, Alirajpore, Dewas, Khandwa and Khargone districts have been practising organic farming for many years, even when the concept was not developed as a government scheme. However, as reported by BusinessLine earlier, Khargone MP Gajendra Patel had flagged the issue of fictitious organic produce growers groups listed in the internal control system (ICS) mechanism. He had voiced his concern over the exploitation of farmers by a “cotton mafia”.
The ICS mechanism allows farmers to be part of a grower group and get the same benefits at cheaper fees than registering individually under the certification procedure. Unless the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) or the certification agency allows them to move from one group to another maintaining continuity, the farmers will lose status as “organic growers”.
Becoming aware of implications
Yadav said many farmers, who had consented to become members of growers’ groups (organised mostly by traders and ginners), have become aware of the implications after reading through various media reports. However, there are several other farmers who were not even aware of such grower groups though officially they were shown to be members of such groups, Yadav said.
It is learnt that after the issue was highlighted, even some of the certification agencies have started de-recognising growers groups. For instance, APEDA earlier this month had directed the Palampur-based Global Certification Society not to issue transaction certificates to four grower groups of Khandwa district in MP - Maa Narmada Krushak Samiti, Maa Rukmani Krushak Samiti, Maa Yamini Krushak Samiti and Shri Sant Singha Ji Krushak Samiti.
“If appropriate policy support and schemes are unveiled, India could develop into one of the largest cooperative movements to strengthen the hands of farmers and raise their income. There is a potential to develop ‘India Organic Cotton Brand’ similar to Amul in dairy sector,” said S Chandrasekaran, a New Delhi-based foreign trade policy expert.
New procedure
APEDA in December 2021 had laid down a new procedure to be followed on transfer of grower groups whenever any certification agency is suspended. But, fictitious groups still get transferred from one certification agency to another without appropriate scrutiny, sources said.
Minister of State of Commerce Anupriya Patel has said that there are several certification bodies against which the government has taken action. “In 2013, there was suspension of accreditation under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) for six months in the case of Natural Organic Certification Agro Private Limited. Similarly, in 2015, in the case of Bio-Cert India Private Limited, accreditation was terminated under NPOP and in 2019, Intertech India Private Limited was suspended for six months and penalty of ₹6 lakh was imposed. There is a long list of such certification bodies,” Patel said in Lok Sabha Wednesday replying to supplementary questions.
“We do not compromise with the reputation of the nation. There are certification agencies or bodies which are certified by the National Accreditation Board and they certify organic products and give them the ‘India Organic’ mark. In case there is ever any complaint, APEDA looks into it. If there are irregularities, malpractices, or any procedural lapse, we suspend the accreditation of those certification bodies to make sure that these standards which are in harmony with the international standards are never compromised,” the minister said.
Quoting Textile Ministry data, US Department of Agriculture has said in a recent report that country’s organic cotton production is estimated to have more than doubled to 8.11 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 from 3.36 lt in the previous year. Madhya Pradesh is estimated to have produced 3.83 lt as against 84,701 tonnes in 2019-20.