Union Commerce Ministry urges Organic Agri industry to use 'India Organic' logo

New Delhi [India], September 7 : Union Commerce Ministry on Thursday urged the Organic Agri industry to use the logo of ‘India Organic’ to help promote the credibility of products in the international market.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that there is a need to use the India Organic logo as this will help promote the credibility of the products. The Secretary said that the industry should also work on improving the quality and standards of these products.
Secretary Barthwal said that there is huge potential to increase exports of organic agri products.
"Organic food segment is an important area. We need to work on this. The world market is about USD 135 billion and India’s share is USD 700 million, so there is a huge potential in this. We are focusing on the sector," Barthwal said while inaugurating a fair of organic products titled Biofach India at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida. It was organised by APEDA.
He also said that there is a need to promote Indian standards of these goods and comply with the standards of importing countries.
He added that there are several goods that India is producing organically like avocado and passion fruit and there is a need to increase awareness about these in the domestic market.
"Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) should run a campaign about these products which are available in India," Barthwal said, adding these exports can be further promoted through e-commerce medium and there is a need to establish the credibility of Indian organic goods.
He announced that soon the Commerce Ministry would convene a meeting of all the stakeholders of the sector to resolve their issues, if any. Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Secretary, Commerce Ministry said that APEDA will play a critical role in increasing organic agri exports.
Agrawal added that the ministry is working to create a platform for the sector where industry can flag their issues. About industry demands to increase the number of certification bodies, he said there are 30 and the ministry would look into the issue of increasing the numbers.
APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev said that they are working with the industry to promote exports.
"We do hope that our exports will increase," Dev said adding the APEDA is implementing the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) which involves the accreditation of Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming and marketing.