National Programme For Organic Production (npop)
NPOP launched during 2001 laid the foundation for systematic development of organic agriculture sector in the country and is the world’s largest organic certification programme.
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NPOP is being managed by Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
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The national programme involves the accreditation programme for Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming etc. The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system have been recognized by European Commission and Switzerland for unprocessed plant products as equivalent to their country standards. Similarly, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation as equivalent to that of US. With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certification bodies of India are accepted by the importing countries.
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NPOP is the main stay for quality assurance for organic agriculture products in India operated through 28 accredited certification bodies.
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All types of agriculture, horticulture and non-food crops are grown under organic certification process.
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To boost export of organic products, the government plans to extend its existing certification to textile, cosmetics and AYUSH products.