Govt Mulls Exempting Organic Processed Food From Export Ban

The government may soon exempt organic processed foods from export ban. “With a view to provide an enabling policy environment, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is trying to get that there would never be any ban on organic processed food exports even if the primary produce of that commodity is subjected to some restrictions,” said AK Tripathy, joint secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries at an event organised by ASSOCHAM.

He further added that India still lacks a credible domestic certification system for food products and this has resulted in the dichotomy between the domestic and exports, which in turn, has raised questions about the credibility of India’s organic food exporters.

“There is another challenge that today there is no credible domestic certification system in India and that is something the Ministry of Agriculture or whoever has to do. If domestic standards are made compulsory then the supply will become much larger and hence the supply available for exports will also be much larger,” noted Tripathy.

Commenting on the issue of lack of domestic standard, Santosh Sarangi, chairman cum secretary of products export body Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), emphasized that it was imperative to implement a credible certification system as well as maintain the integrity of it.

“All stakeholders like farmers, processors, traders and the certification bodies in the organic process should be fully involved and committed to maintain the integrity of the certification system,” said Sarangi.

It is worth noting that India has a huge potential to capture a larger market share of the $64 billion worth global organic food market.
Currently, India has less than 1% share in the global organic food basket.

“We are working towards increasing the portfolio of organic products available for exports from India in order to have a higher share of organic products which are exported. We are expanding from merely crop production system to include aquaculture, textiles and livestock,” he said.