Organic Food Certification and Marketing Strategies

By Gowri Vijayan

This small book is a sincere attempt to provide some basic insights into organic food certification and marketing procedures, especially for those who have no idea about this topic. Techniques mentioned in this book are strictly in an Indian context. Production, certification and marketing techniques and all other information had been written keeping in mind the present scenario of Indian organic market and crop production practices. However, this book may be used as a reference material for all situations pertaining to organic production technology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Agrihortico
• Release date: Mar 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393100874

Gowri Vijayan

Gowri Vijayan is a Horticulture graduate with a post graduate degree in Agribusiness management. She is currently pursuing her doctoral research on Sustainable Operations Management with a prominent International University. Crop production techniques, marketing of agricultural products and supply chain designing are some of her major areas of expertise. Writing is her passion and she publishes her work on agribusiness and horticulture through agrihortico.com, a leading portal in agribusiness and horticulture knowledge dissemination services.

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Organic Food Certification and Marketing Strategies

Gowri Vijayan

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© 2014 AGRIHORTICO

Preface

This small book is a sincere attempt to provide some basic insights into organic crop production practices and organic certification procedures, especially for those who have no idea about the topic of organic farming. Techniques mentioned in this book are strictly in an Indian context. Production techniques and all other information had been written keeping in mind the present scenario of Indian organic market and crop production practices. However, this book may be used as a reference material for all situations pertaining to organic production technology.

Content

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION IN INDIA

CERTIFICATION PROCESS

MISTAKES MADE DURING CERTIFICATION

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR ORGANIC FARMING

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR EXPORT ENTRY

MARKETING STRATEGIES

SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIAN AGRI ORGANIC SECTOR

PRODUCT POSITIONING

CONSUMER NEEDS

MARKETING PLAN

BARRIERS IN INDIAN ORGANIC INDUSTRY

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

Concept of Certification

Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other products. Certification of any product acknowledges that its production has been done according to organic production standards. The production standards vary from country to country, based on their certifying bodies, but the general concept remain the same:

No use to human sewage sludge fertilizer in cultivation process

Avoid synthetic chemical application (See National List, for permitted substances)

Use of organically converted and certified farms

Avoid use of genetically modified (G) products in production

Maintenance of proper records on crop practices, sales and purchase

Prevent contamination of field and product from non-certified substances

Use of organic seeds and planting stock, based on availability in market

Periodic field inspections by certification agents

Also, in order to claim any product as ‘organic’, certification is required, especially for exporting. Worldwide, inspection and certification of organic foods is done, based on two overlapping sets of guidelines and norms; statutory certification norms and the Voluntary/civil certification norms. The Voluntary/civil certification norms are stricter to statutory certification norms. The Statutory norms are legal guidelines by the government, in relation to certification of organic produce, regulation of import-export, trade agreements between countries etc. Two of the most highly accepted voluntary certification agencies are CODEX and IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements). At the international level, the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission (the inter-governmental body that sets the food standards) has produced international guidelines for production, processing, labeling and marketing of organically produced foods.