National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP)

The Ministries of Industries and Commerce, Government of India has implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) to provide a focused and well-directed development of organic agriculture and quality products. This national programme proposes for the promotion of organic farming and provides an institutional mechanism for the implementation of National Standards for Organic Production and provides information on systems, criteria and procedure for accreditation of Inspection and certification bodies, the national organic logo. In this article, we will look at the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) in detail.

Objective of NPOP

The key objective of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is explained in detail below:

NPOP has formulated for providing the evaluation of certification programme for organic agriculture and products including the wild harvest, aquaculture, livestock products
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
The National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is implemented for the development of organic farming and organic processing
To accredit certification programme of Certification Bodies seeking accreditation
To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity to the National Standards for Organic Products

Prescribed Authority

National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is managed by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. APEDA is assisting the exporters of organic products under various components of its export promotion scheme.

Standards of Organic Crop Production

The standards of Organic Crop Production include crop production plan, nutrient management conversion requirement and disease management for agricultural crops. There is no separate prescribed production standard for pulses. The organic pulses certified under NPOP are being cultivated in the States of, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab.

Accreditation of Organic Products for Exports

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 of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), the Certification Bodies accredited under NPOP conduct inspection before certifying the operators as organic.
After inspection and compliance with the requirement by the certified operators, a certification decision is taken by the Certification Body and Scope Certificate is issued
The scope certificate is having a validity of one year.

Transaction Certificate for Organic Trading

Organic products are traded only through issuance of Transaction Certificate (TC) wherein the product identity and traceability is maintained. The Transaction Certificate is 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 the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) and need to obtain a Transaction Certificate whenever the product is traded.

Eligibility for Accreditation

Accreditation under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) applies to individuals, firms, co-operatives, societies which are already engaged or which propose to engage in the work of certified organic products, who must comply with ISO Guide 65. The Certification Agencies applying for Accreditation should be actively engaged in the programmes related to organic agriculture movement/production and their programmes should have been in operation for at least one year.

Categories for Accreditation

Accreditation under the National Programme for Organic Production will be granted for each category of products as follows:

Organic agricultural production
Organic processing operations
Wild products
Forestry
Organic animal production and processing

Documents Required for Accreditation

The basic requirements for applicant organizations for accreditation under the National Programme for Organic Production are explained in detail below:

Application form in Prescribed Format
Registration certificate indicating its legal status
Memorandum of Company, Association and Trust (MOA)
Organizational structure
List of manpower along with their competence status, qualifications, experience, experience in auditing and training
Audited balance sheets
Prescribed accreditation fee
Operating and Quality manual as per ISO 17065
Standard operating procedures, formats and checklists as per the requirement of the scope being applied for accreditation
Authority letter from the organization for the person assigning authority
Any other relevant information

Accreditation Fee Accreditation

The application fee for the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is explained as follows:

An applicant has to deposit an Accreditation fee of Rs.15000 along with the application form for Accreditation for the first year.
The fee should be in the form of a bank draft in favour of APEDA payable at New Delhi.

Note: In the event of non-approval of Accreditation by the National Accreditation Body constituted for the purpose, the fee paid should be refunded after deducting 25% towards processing charges. For renewal of the certificate of Accreditation, a renewal fee of Rs.10000 for 3 years will be remitted with the application for renewal.

Validity of Certificate of Accreditation

The Certificate of Accreditation will be valid for 3 years from the date of issue of Certificate of Accreditation.

Application Procedure for Accreditation

The application procedure for the accreditation is explained in detail below:

Applicants seeking Accreditation as an Agency or renewal under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) have to submit an application to the authorized officer in a prescribed format along with fee prescribed.

[pdf-embedder url="https://www.indiafilings.com/learn/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/application_for_accreditation.pdf"]

On receipt of the application, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) on behalf of the National Accreditation Body (NAB) will conduct a preliminary screening of all the applications.
If the application is found in order, the APEDA will arrange for field evaluation by the Executive Committee nominated by the NAB.
The NAB will consider the application, after reviewing the evaluation report submitted by the Executive Committee.
In case the applicant fulfils the prescribed criteria with a reasonable tariff structure for inspection and certification, the Committee will approve the Certification Agency
The Certificate of Accreditation will be issued after verification. The Certificate of Accreditation is valid for three years from the date of issue.

Renewal Procedure

Application for renewal of Accreditation along with the fees prescribed has to be submitted by the Certification Agency to reach the Authorized Officer 30 days before the expiry of the Accreditation period. [pdf-embedder url="https://www.indiafilings.com/learn/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Renewal_application.pdf"]

Logo for Organic Products Exports

The logo used under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is called “India Organic”. This will be the seal used on all the certified organic products, which would identify that the product is organically produced and originates from India.