Organic agriculture is an holistic production management system that avoids use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms, rely on the local natural resources and the management of the ecosystem rather than the external agriculture inputs such as mineral fertilizers and agrochemicals which maintains the soil fertility and do not degrade the environment. As the country is shifting towards natural organic farming, the demand of the organic certification is also increasing day by day in Nepal. Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. There are lots of the challenges and the obstacles in the certification of organic products. These obstacles need to be addressed through the investment in the organic sectors. Many NGOs, private sectors, farmer led groups, cooperatives should be involved in different steps of the organic certification and promotion. Thus the co effort of the various responsible stakeholders is of much need to bring harmony and institutionalize organic certification in Nepal.

 

What is organic certification?

It is a process ensuring that the producers and processors strictly obey necessary  requirements and standards set. After the certification of farm or products, one is issued with a certificate which is a  written guarantee provided by independent third agency stating the processes of  production and products satisfy the specific standards.Farms or products are then furnished with label and the branding of the products  can be done (FAO, 2021; Umesh Lama, 2010). The organic certification certifies the producers like seed suppliers, farmers, food  processor, restaurants, and retail shops can be certified. The main purpose of certification is to give the consumers confidence that the  products they buy as organic, actually are organically produced (Bhat, 2009). Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic  products to consumers. Individual certification bodies have their own service mark, which can act as  branding to consumers certifier may promote the high recognition value of its logo  as a marketing advantage to producers.

 

Need of Organic Certification:

Certification brings opportunities for protection of local resources, improvement of  producers and consumers’ health and eventually raising living condition of people. The data collected in the process of certification can be very useful for market planning  as well as for extension and research. Certification improves the “image” of organic agriculture in the society as a whole and  increases the credibility and the visibility of the organic movement. Certification can also facilitate the introduction of special support schemes for organic  agriculture, since it defines a group of producers to support. Without certification it is  difficult to implement special support for organic farms. Certification provides affirmation to customers and lifts confidence of farmers in the  marketing process (FAO, 2021; Umesh Lama, 2010).

 

Steps of Organic Certification:

1.         Selection of certifier:

First steps is selection of a certifier that can be national private organization or  some International Foundation also provide certificate for Organic products in  Nepal viz.

NPOP: National Programme for Organic Production, India

USDA-NOP: United States Department of Agriculture- National Organic Program  JAS: Japanese Agricultural Standards

EC 834/2007-council of the European Union

 

In Nepal, currently private certifying bodies such as Organic Certification Nepal (OSN)  are executing this standard in the certification process of the farms that follow set of  procedure.

 

2. Application Form Submission /submission of Organic System Plan (OSP)

After this an application package and organic management plan are submitted  to the certifying agency for the careful observation

 

3. Contact of Agreement:

            If the submitted information is complete, a contract is done between applicant and  certifying body on issuing organic inspector.

 

4. Inspection:

Certifying body then assigns a trained organic inspector, who inspects the organic  farm.

Inspector reviews fields, equipment, buildings, neighboring land, seed sources,  harvesting methods, records of management practices, storage, composting,  transportation and sales practice.Completion of inspection may take from a day to 7 days depending on  the  complexity of operation.

 

5. Evaluation of Inspection of Reports- Recommendation for Certification

After inspection, the inspector and applicant sign an affidavit before submitting it to  the certifier. The inspector submits the inspection report along with laboratory  report and checklists of entire processes to certifying body.

6. Decision of evaluating committee:

The report and checklists are reviewed by the evaluation committee of certifying body and confirms into a decision.

There are three outcomes of this review process.

Approved: If the review is accepted, the certifying body issues certificate and logo to those  organic firms recommended by evaluation committee. Applicant can now begin marketing products as organic and may use the organic seal.

Flagged: If there are minor discrepancies and issues they must be further addressed or  provided with additional information before certification.

Denied: If the applicant doesn’t meet the standards and guidelines of organic farming which  can’t be addressed in short term, then the application is denied

According to International Federation of Organic Farming Movement (2003), the number of an  organic farm in Nepal is 26, and the area under Organic management is 45 hectar (Aryal &  Tripathee, 2018)

 

Challenge of organic certification:

Ø  -lack of proper recognition by both government and non-government institutions  certification of international organic product chains has become a complicated and  expensive service for producer and consumers.

Ø   -Expensive certification cost

Ø  -Inadequate technical capacity to develop certifiable production operations.

Ø  -Insufficient understanding of how organic certification works

Ø  -Lack of awareness about group certification among small and the medium farmers  (Bhat, 2009).

References: 

https://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq1/en/

Kattel, R. R. (2017). Impacts of group organic certification of coffee on socio-economic and  environmental sustainability in Nepal. Journal of Agriculture and Forestry University,  1(August), 49–60.

Parajuli, S., Shrestha, J., & Ghimire, S. (2020). Organic farming in Nepal: A viable option for  food security and agricultural sustainability. Archives of Agriculture and Environmental  Science, 5(2), 223–230. https://doi.org/10.26832/24566632.2020.0502021

Pokhrel, D. M., & Pant, K. P. (2009). Perspectives of Organic Agriculture and Policy Concerns  in Nepal. Journal of Agriculture and Environment, 10, 103–115.  https://doi.org/10.3126/aej.v10i0.2135

Umesh Lama. (2010). Why Organic Certification | New Spotlight Magazine.  https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2010/11/21/why-organic-certification/

Yadav, S. K., Babu, S., Yadav, M. K., Singh, K., Yadav, G. S., & Pal, S. (2013). A Review of Organic  Farming for Sustainable Agriculture in Northern India. International Journal of Agronomy,  2013, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/718145