Chhattisgarh Certification Committee, India Forestry and Agriculture-CGCERT Operated for Organic Certification.

• 19 Sep 2023

Why In News?

According to the information given by Chhattisgarh Public Relations Department on September 18, 2023, Chhattisgarh Certification Committee, India Forestry and Agriculture-CGCERT does the work of organic certification of agricultural products, minor forest produce products and processed products etc. Apart from this, CGCERT is also moving forward in the field of forest certification.

Key Points:

• Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Executive Officer-CGCERT V. Srinivas Rao said that Chhattisgarh Certification Committee, India Forestry and Agriculture-CGCERT is operated under the administrative control of Chhattisgarh State Forest Department.
• CGCERT is an accredited institution for organic certification of organic products as per the National Organic Production Program by the National Board of Accreditation, Ministry of Commerce, New Delhi.
• Its office in Chhattisgarh is located in the State Forest Research and Training Institute Raipur campus near Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly.
• In the organic certification process, a certification body such as CGCERT monitors organic production, processing, selling or handling activities for compliance with organic standards.
• It is noteworthy that in view of the immense potential of organic farming and organic products in the country, the National Organic Production Program Standard was launched in the year 2005 by the Government of India to promote the field of certification of organic products.
• For this, APEDA, New Delhi has played an important role and formed certification bodies at all state levels. Indian organic standards are at par with European standards and Swiss standards. In this process, CGCert has been given recognition for organic certification work.
• In the inspection and certification process of organic farms of farmers, CGCERT carries out the inspection of organic production of various crops, maintenance of managed crops etc. as per NPOP standards.
• Under the certification process, it is mandatory for any individual farmer, group of farmers, processor, seller to register.
• CGCert also does the work of organic certification of such producer farmer groups who do organic farming by forming a group in a cluster. In group farming, both the area and quantity of organic production increases by small farmers doing organic farming and the cost of certification also reduces. Apart from this, due to high production, traders of organic products are attracted to sell these products.
• CGCERT deals with the certification of minor forest produce collected from forests, including various types of medicinal products like Harra, Bahera, Amla, Mahua, Tamarind, Chironji and wild honey.
• The products obtained from forests are automatically organic in nature. In the organic certification process, the work of inspection and evaluation of production areas and maintenance etc. of this minor forest produce is done by NPOP. Is done as per standard.
• CGCERT also certifies processed organic products prepared in processing units and organic fertilizers required for agricultural purposes.