Haryana govt to set up organic certification agency at agri varsity

The V-C said the state government and the university are making efforts to promote organic farming in Haryana.

The state government will be setting up the Haryana Organic Certification Agency (HOCA) at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University(CCSHAU) in Hisar to help organic farmers get their produce certified in the state, vice-chancellor KP Singh said on Monday.

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While addressing a press conference, the V-C said the state government and the university are making efforts to promote organic farming in Haryana. “However, due to absence of an organic certification in the state, growers were forced to get their farms and produce certified from agencies outside,” he said.

“The process is lengthy and costly. It is for the first time that the Haryana government has approved the proposal by CCSHAU to setup a government-aided organic certification agency. With HOCA, there will be no hurdle in marketing and export of organic produce from Haryana as the agency will also be equipped with a sophisticated testing laboratory for pesticide residue and nutritional testing,” Singh said.

The university has got the society registration under the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012 and the V-C will be the ex-officio president and controlling officer of Deendayal Upadhyay Centre of Excellence for Organic Farming.

Singh explained that there are two systems of organic certification. One is self-certification system (Participatory Guarantee Scheme) but it is not effective for export. The second is third party certification which is mostly adopted for export but involves higher cost. “The HOCA will help organic growers of Haryana obtain the third party certification in a cost effective and transparent manner that will enable them to sell their produce with certification mark in domestic as well as international market,” the V-C said.