In 2015 might have been lost to the pandemic, but it brought great news for the Indian organic foods market. The export of organic food products increased by 51 per cent in terms of value to reach $1,040 million (Rs 7078 crores) in FY21. In terms of amount, the exports of natural food products grew by 39 per cent to 888,179 metric tonne (MT) throughout FY21 compared to 638,998 MT shipped in 2019-20.
Oil cake meal has been a significant commodity of the organic product exports from the country followed by oilseeds, fruit pulps and purees, cereals & & millets, spices & & dressings, tea, medical plant products, dry fruits, sugar, pulses, coffee, vital Oil. India’s natural products have been exported to 58 countries consisting of the USA, European Union, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Switzerland, Israel and South Korea.
“Indian organic items, nutraceuticals and natural food are acquiring more demand in overseas market,” said Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA. The growth in natural products has actually been achieved regardless of logistical and functional challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic.
According to the officials, organic products are currently exported from India only if they are produced, processed, packed and labelled according to the requirements of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). The NPOP has actually been implemented by APEDA since its inception in 2001 as alerted under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulations) Act, 1992.
The NPOP certification has been acknowledged by the European Union and Switzerland which makes it possible for India to export unprocessed plant products to these countries without the requirement of additional accreditation. The equivalency with EU likewise helps with the export of Indian natural items to the United Kingdom even in the post Brexit stage.
In order to assist in the trade between major importing nations, negotiations are underway with Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia, UAE, New Zealand for achieving Mutual Recognition Agreements for exports of Organic items from India.
India now has more than 30 lakh ha area registered under natural certification and gradually more and more farmers are joining the motion. Based on the international study report (2021) India ranks 5th in terms of location and is at the top in terms of overall number of manufacturers (base year 2019).
Regardless of deep inroads of modern-day farming practices, still, there are large adjoining locations in hills, tribal districts, desert and rained locations in India that continue to remain free from chemical input usage. With little efforts, such traditional/ default organic locations can be brought under natural accreditation almost instantly.
According to the established norm of natural production systems, the areas having chemical input use history are required to go through a transition duration of a minimum 2-3 years to qualify as natural. During this duration, farmers need to adopt standard natural farming practices and keep their farms under the accreditation process. On effective conclusion, such farms can be accredited as organic after 2-3 years. The accreditation process also requires intricate documents and time to time verification by the accreditation authorities.
This material was initially published here.
The export of natural food products rose by 51 per cent in terms of worth to reach $1,040 million (Rs 7078 crores) in FY21.”Indian organic products, nutraceuticals and health food are gaining more demand in abroad market,” stated Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA. According to the officials, organic products are presently exported from India only if they are produced, processed, loaded and identified as per the requirements of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). As per the recognized norm of natural production systems, the areas having chemical input usage history are needed to go through a shift duration of a minimum 2-3 years to qualify as natural.
