History of Organic and Natural Farming in India

A 100 year History of Organic and Natural Farming in India

All agriculture in the early 18th century is what is termed as ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ today. The life choices were different as they are now, no harmful synthetic chemicals were used in agriculture with recycling of plant and animal biomass. Agriculture around the world especially the Global South underwent drastic changes under Colonial rule in India. In the earlier part of the 20th century before and during World War I, agrochemicals were being researched and interchanged as weapons by the powers of the time.

Source – U.S. Army Center of Military History

Post World War II the incidence of Agrochemicals were increased drastically especially by diverting those used for weapons. Today, globally, Agroecology is being considered as a viable solution for Sustainable Agriculture in the future. India too has joined the global era of Organic Farming and Markets. How did this come to be in India over the last 100 years. In this article we attempt and trace a timeline of how India got to its ideas of Sustainable Agriculture in 2024.

We all know how important organic farming was in history and ancient times, because the lifestyle was different back then, when no chemicals were used in farming, than it is today. Chemicals in farming cause a variety of issues, including the development of common chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, PCOS, Cancers. The current dynamic of organic farming in India differs significantly from that of the 1900s. How, you may ask? What is called “Organic farming” today has been practised for thousands of years, with crop rotation, composting, and natural pest control being common in traditional agriculture. However, modern organic farming in India started to take shape in the late 20th century. For centuries preceding this timeline was an era where all agriculture in the Indian subcontinent is today deemed with words such as ‘Organic’, ‘Natural Farming’, ‘Regenerative’ ‘Agroecology’, and ‘Sustainable Agriculture’.

This is a general timeline of the historical aspect of the Indian Agricultural system especially from the 1900s onwards until today, being acknowledged as a major nation generating Organic food globally.

Indian Agriculture dates back to over 10000 years ago. Thus the system of cultivation of food and Agro-pastoralism is one of the most ancient in human history. As such, despite the rise and fall of Kingdoms and governments, it is still continuing for all the millenia even today.

Ancient Indian scriptures written in temporal vernaculars such as Sanskrit are today available for easy reading and also translated in English. Such texts are Krishi Parashara (400 BCE), Sitadhyaksha chapter in Kautilya Arthashastra (321 BCE), Brihat Samhita (600 CE),Kashyapi Krishi Sukti (800 CE), Vrikshayurveda 1000 CE), Upvanvinod (1283 CE), Vishwavallabha (1577 CE), Lokapara (1000 CE). While these texts were scripted in these timelines, they were orally transmitted for many Millennia before, as was the tradition of knowledge transfer in India; thus, the knowledge of these texts predates their scripting.
Medieval India has recorded Agricultural treatises such as Nuskha Dar Fani Falahat (1650 CE) and Krishi Gita (1500 CE).

With time the practices may have changed, however, the crops of the ancient times such as Seasme, Cotton, Sugarcane etc. have been saved as seeds over the generations are still available today.

From the 18th century onwards, India was under the Colonial rule of the British. This era caused massive changes to Indian Agricultural systems in parts by decimating the self-functioning social structures of functional Food Systems . From the late 19th and early 20th century the Colonials sent emissaries to study Indian agricultural systems so that they could be improved. While a number of experts arrived in India, most departed with a deep sense of advancement that Indian agriculture represented.

There were these notable publications which are part of history now –

Report on the improvement of Indian agriculture by John Augustus Voelcker in 1893 – which concluded that Indian Agriculture is too complex to be simplistically determined in a standardised format. In other words the agricultural system is too diverse to comprehend. General observations were made based on the limited expositions by Voelcker. The one major recommendation which was made here was that while farmers are adept in Cultivation “modern” research is missing. This also infers that the farmers were themselves scientists for millenia in India, and the need was for the English language to understand this vast knowledge.
Agricultural Journals of India by the Agriculture Research Institute at Pusa in Bihar, from 1904 to 1927s – where volumes by multiple authors presented an exposition of Functional Indian Agricultural Systems which produced not just enough for the nation but enormous diversity to export to the world. What was learnt from production systems from India was then applied to Tropical Colonial nations for increasing production.
An Agricultural Testament by Sir Albert Howard in 1940 – in which it was concluded that rather than attempting to teach Indian Farmers, one could actually learn the art of Agriculture from them. Albert Howard discovered a system which is now known as the “Indore Method” to improve soil fertility without diminishing yields of diverse crops.

Interestingly events resulting by the “Recommendations” of the Voelcker report seeded ideas for the creation of two major Institutions in India the “Imperial Agriculture Research Institute” in 1904 at Pusa Bihar (later shifted to Delhi and now called “Indian Agriculture Research Institute” in 1936 by the British). The next institution which was crafted specifically was the Imperial Council for Agricultural Research in 1929 as a society (now called “Indian Council for Agriculture Research” in New Delhi). These institutions were, eventually, the backbone to promote “Green Revolution” in India, being based in Delhi from the 1960s onwards.

Source – Nature

After Independence in 1947, Indian Government began a process of continued Institutionalisation of the Agricultural System which the British Colonials had instated. The “I” for Imperial was replaced with “I” for India and the recommendations of Voelcker continued to be implemented post independence. This led to creation of public sector organisations which chose to Industrialise agricultural production comparable to the global state of the art Agricultural development in the Western World post World War II. This stratagem eventually resulted in what is termed as the “Green Revolution” in India from the 1960s onwards. It took a consistent effort of two decades with the entire central and state machinery at work to ‘Modernise Indian Agriculture’. Subsequent wars in India forced a situation where the production of Indian Agriculture dipped for a few years. In 1964, India faced a situation where Grain Production, then considered to be Wheat, fell and had to be imported. It was at that time when the political structure perceived that the cereal diversity of India – with Multitude of Millets, Rice varieties, Pulses, Oilseeds and wild harvested foods – were insufficient to feed the burgeoning population. Whereas the then Prime Minister Sh Lal Bahadur Shastri requested the nation to accept India’s Historic Biodiversity by cultivating multiple crops even in one season, sadly this aspect was not accepted by the state machinery at large. Once again, the recommendations of Voelcker prevailed and “India” decided to move ahead with “Modernisation” of agriculture, at the expense of “Bharat”. Today, India is facing a challenge to Sustainability in Agriculture.

Thus a decision was taken, to import just one type of seeds in India with the support of Ford Foundation, in other words the United States of America. Interestingly, these seeds came from Mexico and were named PL-480, a moniker from Public Law 480, passed by Dwight Eisenhower as “Food for Peace” program. Today this program is also criticised as a political stratagem by the USA to make pressured nations dependent on chemical and technology that came along with the seed. It is this decision which brought the advent of the “Green Revolution ” in India – where Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, the North India state regions neighbouring Delhi, herald on behalf of the Government programs and schemes.

Over the next two decades the entire weight of the government machinery, the Research organisations, extension systems, state and central government departments pushed forth the agenda of “Green Revolution” which mainly involved High Yielding Hybrid seeds, potent Synthetically manufactured Agrochemical Fertilisers and Poisonous Chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides and weedicides. Over the next 30 years, the private sector also developed with Government subsidies to create an infrastructure to import or manufacture these as products sold to farmers. Today these subsidies have become such a burden on the exchequer that the Indian government has to finally resolve Sustainable Agricultural practices such as Organic and Natural farming to bring the public expense down.

Over the next two decade Indian Agriculture system moved from “Chemical-Free” to “Free-Chemical” agriculture, with the Government departments reported to have distributed Fertilizers free of cost to farmers. Senior farmers also reported, that at times, despite their not desiring to add fertilizers to their fields, overnight, the departments added the fertilizers to show how healthy and high yielding the crops had become. The consumption of Fertilizers and pestcides grew manifold in the next 20 years in India, and slowly India became a net Agro-chemical importing country. This also led to economic shocks due to high import costs and global politics in the 1970s, leading India to consider its own manufacturing of the hazardous chemicals. In fact, many may not know even today that the dreadful Bhopal Gas Tragedy was caused due to a Pesticide Factory mishap. Such is the toxicity of these chemicals. While in the next 40 years or so, the productivity of monocultured crops grew manifold in India, leading it to become a food surplus nation, these interventions took its toll on ecological (soil health, climate change), social (diseases) and economic (net returns to farmers) costs, which prevail till today. Twenty years into the Green revoluton, the Civil Society, Gandhians and Intellectuals associated with Organic Farming started stepping up to deliberate over the isssues.

Within the governments, also there were, individuals like Dr R H Richharia, who were part of the APIGR (Association for Propagation of Indigenous Genetic Resources) meetings at Wardha in 1980s, almost forgotten for their contribution. Scientists like Dr Richcharia were a handful few, who observed and preserved, the true strength of Food Security in India – the native seeds! All the while, when the entire juggernaut machine of the government rolling to secure Food for the Indian population.

Between 1980s to 2000 – over twenty years a number of organisation were formed and well meaning individuals undertook the efforts to present solutions for Agrochemical free agriculture in India.

Notable among the many are significant individuals who have, selflessly, contributed to the development of organic/natural farming history of India –

Bhaskar Save, considered by many esteemed organic farmers and organisations as the “Gandhi of Natural Framing,” is the one who lived the experience and demonstrated its potential. He interacted with Masanobu Fukuoka during his visits to India and was conferred the One World Award in 2010.
Sripad Dhabholkar – who founded the Prayog Pariwaar and conducted many experiements with Terrace Gardening and Viticulture. His publications are referred by generations even tody. He was conferred with Jamna Lal Bajaj award in 1990 for his contributions.
G Nammalwar – Also known as the Saint Messiah of Tamil Nadu Organic Agriculture. He had a simple and transformative way with Sustainable Agriculture through proverbs and story telling.
Subhash Bhai Palekar who is now known in India as the primary promoter of Zero Budget Natural Farming.He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2016.
Deepak Bhai Suchde – considered as the Father Amrut Krishi and who developed a technique called Natueco farming based out of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.
Raju Titus and Pratap C Agarwal – Both friends and promoters of No-Till Natural Farming in Madhya Pradesh.
Bernard D’Clerq and Deepika Kundaji – Partners Bernard and Deepika run the Pebble Garden and have been instrumentatal in the formation of institutions such as Organic Farming Association of India. Deepika was conferred the National Nari Shakti Award in 2017.
Prof Radhamohan and Sabarmati Tiki – Father Daughter Duo who founded Sambhav in 1989 in Odisha and were instrumental in saving over 800 varieties of tradtional seeds and promoting Natural Farming. Sabarmati was confered Nari Shakti in 2018 and alongwith Prof Radhamohan were conferred Padma Shri in 2020.
Natbar Sarangi – A school teacher who has also promoted Sustainable agriculture practices and saved over 350 varieties of indigenous seeds.
Bharat Bhushan Tyagi – Senior farmer from Uttar Pradesh, who switched to Organic Farming and promoted them since 1998. Developed SAMAK (Sah-Astitva Moolak Aavartansheel Krishi) farming methodology. Conferred with Padma Shri in 2019.
The pioneer of the 1970s–1990s, Padma Shri TGK (Kutty) Menon, was awarded the Padma Shri for Environment Protection and Organic Farming, centred at Kasturba Gram near Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. In order to learn more about biodynamics, particularly its mind–spirit–material cosmological aspect, Kutty Menon had previously travelled to Switzerland, where he studied under Rudolph Stieners’ movement of the early 20th century.

Notable Founders of Organisations which, over the last 2 decades, are working on promoting Sustainable agriculture, a few of whom are very senior by age, and a few passed away –

PV Satheesh – The founder of Deccan Development Society (DDS) in 1985, which had the distinction of being showcased for its work on Millets in World Food Summit in Rome, in 1996.
Vandana Shiva – Founder of Navdanya International in 2011 and previously Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) in 1982.
Dr Bharatendu Prakash – who tirelessly worked in the Bundelkhand Dryland of Madhya Pradesh on promoting Organic Farming practices since the 1990s.
Claude Alvares – is a renowned environmentalist and director of the Goa Foundation, an environmental monitoring group, and one of the founders of the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI) and PGSOC. Part of the APIGR and ARISE since 1980s.
Debjeet Sarangi – Founder of Living Farms, Odisha’s leading organization to fight for agrobiodiversity conservation and indigenous land rights, also resisted Odisha’s onslaught of GMO crops.
Kapil Shah – Founder of Jatan Trust, working restlessly for promotion of Agroecology from Gujarat for over 3 decades now.
Kavitha Kuruganti – Founder of the voluntary network ASHA Kisanwaraj. An ardent activist working for rights of Smallholder farmers especially Women across India, since early 2000s, and the leader in the Anti-GMO movement.

Umender Dutt – Founder of Kheti Virasat Mission in the most difficult state to promote Agroecology – Punjab since 1990s.
Alexander and Joy Daniel – Father son duo, where Alexander played a seminal role in the design of the National Standard for Organic Production with the Government of India since 1990s. Joy Daniel is presently promoting agroecology through Lipok Foundation.
Bablu Ganguly and Mary Vattamatam – Founder of Timbaktu Collective, working in connecting Farmers to Markets since 1990s. Conferred with One World Award in 2014 as recognition of their efforts.
GV Ramanjaneylu – Founder of Center for Sustainable Agriculture, which today, boasts of transforming over 50000 farmers in multiple states of India towards Agroecology and its market value chains.
Farmers –
- Sarvadaman Patel – A protege of Peter Proctor and a chemical farmer turned Senior Organic Farmer in the early 2000s. Trained over 3000 youth in the last 10 years at the acenstral farm – Bhai Kaka Krishi Kendra. Conferred Lifetime awar by IFOAM-Asia
- Debal Deb – The “Rice Warrior” of India, the scientist turned farmer (or farmer-scientist embodied) parries on to continue the work of Dr RH Richcharia to preserve and conserve India’s true generational wealth – the native seeds.

and many many many more ….

Meanwhile, the formal institutitions kept promoting Chemical Agriculture to such a extent that it became the convention till date. Chemical Fertilizer consumption of India grew manifold until India became one of the Highest fertilizer consuming countries of the world.

Similarly, the consumption of pesticides also grew proportionately to the number of dreaded diseases in India. To ameliorate the cost of pesticide imports, which were ever increasing with pest resistance, Indian government was constraint to manufacture these in the country. To the extant that Hindustan Insecticide Limited became the biggest producer of, the now banned, DDT globally.

SOURCE: NABARD – 2005 ORGANIC FARMING IN INDIA :
RELEVANCE, PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS

The Progress of India in Organic Agriculture and Natural Farming

The first conference of NGOs on organic farming in India was organised by the Association for Propagation of Indigenous Genetic Resources (APIGR) in October 1984 at Wardha. Several other meetings on organic farming were held at different places in the country towards the end of 1980s.

The Bordi Conference took place in Maharashtra, which served as the focal point for India’s organic farming movement.
In 1992, the Rajasthan College of Agriculture, with the support of the state government, hosted an organic agriculture meeting.
In 1993 and 1995, the United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI) held two national organic farming conferences.
ARISE (Agricultural Renewal in India for a Sustainable Environment) is a major national organisation that promotes organic farming. ARISE was founded in 1995 at a national organic farming conference held in Auroville. ARISE is a network of supportive regional organisations that works to protect biodiversity and advance organic farming methods in order to create a sustainable environment.

Given that Auroville was home to the Aurobindo Ashram and pioneered work in organic agriculture, wasteland development, afforestation, and alternative energy research, it was an appropriate choice for the conference location. By the end of 1990s, three groups of communities or individuals had switched to organic farming.

The first group was made up of educated urbanites who had a passing interest as a fad, which, of course, did not last long. The second group was made up of educated farmers whose farming practices were scientifically sound. The third group engaged in organic farming through trial-and-error methods. Successful organic farmers in India are those who, mostly on their own farms, have access to enough natural resources like water and other organic materials.

Meanwhile, in 1993 Germany rejected Darjeeling Tea from India due to high content of Pesticides (Tetradifon, Ethion, Hepathochlor etc) . Between 1993-1999 due to these high rejections there was also a simultaneous growing demand for “Bio-Dynamic” and/or “Organic” Tea.

The 1990s was an era of Economic Liberalisations and “Opening” up of Indian markets. The major thrust of the government and public agencies was trade and commerce. Macroeconomic trajectories showed that India was starting to lag behind China and trade deficit, forex reserves were to be strengthened. The economic yeild capital success of Green Revolution peaked enough to cause Ecological and Social Capital to be in the back burner. Health of Indian consumers was not the top priority in the minds of the policy maker, since whenever Cancer Hospitals were inaugrated in the 1990s, it was considered a happy occasion. Organized and Regulated Organic Agriculture sector was born in the later half of this era. It is important to remember that from 1980s till late 1990s the major incentive for the Government of India was not the health of Indian Consumers or the Environment – but trade and commerce to get a “Better Price” and eventually Foreign Exchange from Europe. And to think that all the “Official Organic” markets of India were born of the fact that Europe could buy and drink “Safe Indian Chai”!! Now India was a producer of “Chai” but the production of Chai was under aspects of Ministry of Agriculture. However as exports were most important the “Logical” Ministry to reserach and develop solutions for rejections of exports was the Ministry of Commerce. The nodal department under Ministry of Commerce to execute and solve this was APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) which was formed in 1985.

Source – OECD Digital Library

Meanwhile, in 1993 Padma Shri TGK (Kutty) Menon – a noted Gandhian – invited Peter Proctor from New Zealand to support the promotion of Biodynamics in India. Kutty Menon was a doyen of the era from 1970s to 1990s and conferred the Padma Shri for Environment protection, Organic Farming – centered at Kastruba Gram near Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Kutty Menon, had travelled to Switzerland in the past to learn more about Biodynamics especially the mind-spirit-material cosmological aspect of it from Rudolph Stieners’ movement of the early 20th century.

From 1993 to 2018, Peter (Passed in 2018) and his partner Rachel Pomeroy promoted Biodynamic farming as is also seen in this video. Their efforts also culminated in 1999 towards the establishing of the Biodynamic Association of India (BDAI). Today BDAI is in revival mode, after various organisational upheavals in the last 15 years or so. Around 2000, Peter also came in the circles of Sarvadaman Bhai Patel of Bhai Kaka Krishi Kendra – which since 2012 has trained over 1000 individuals – enthusiasts on aspects of Biodynamic farming in India.

Between 1999 to 2010 Biodynamic movement gradually spread across India and also the associated market to supply goods to Europe was met with marginal success. Biodynamics required the stringent Demeter Certification which only a few organisations could afford for cost and complexity.

APEDA started to develop a solution for rejection of tea exports by conferring with the Tea Industry lobby. At the time a number of members of the tea Industry were also members of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements – now called IFOAM – Organics International). This was the reference that APEDA had to “learn more” about Organic Agriculture, as it was the only viable option at the time.

In the 1990s the “Organic World”, globally, was undertaking an excercise of developing laws on Organic Agricultural production and regulation. IFOAM was the international body (NGO) which had recieved recognition from FAO in 1997 and IFOAM had the Basic standard documents developed around 1999 and the “mechanism” whereby Organic shall be recognised through the means of “Certification” where “Third Party” agencies shall certify. The Agencies themselves shall be accredited by the “International Organic Accreditation Services Inc.” (IOAS).

Through the early 2000s a “Logo” was developed for products and available in the market (BIOFACH) in Europe. Since “this” was the state-of-art for Organic Farming in the west and the Government was focused on this for economic reasons alone, India took the pathway to satisfy the “Global Market” needs of Organic Produce/Products and decided to “Adopt” a mechanism which was inline with “Global Standards”.

Then in May 2000 the first ever National Policy on Organic Production was compiled by Sh SM Acharya (IAS 1974) as part of APEDA and released by the Prime Minister of India. This policy was the birthing point for what we have as the National Standard for Organic Production (NSOP) which was represented by the “India Organic” logo, which was released by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in July 2002. It was also the year, when the government started to think about the Soil and Human Health in India and also considering certified “Organic” markets for India as well. And to think it all began with a cuppa of “pesticides” in tea in the early 1990s!!

In early 2000s, the Government of India also decided that a nodal body for Organic Agriculture should be part of the Ministry of Agriculture and thus was born the National Center for Organic Farming (NCOF) in 2004, which is now rechristened to National Center for Organic And Natural Farming (NCONF). NCONF became the nodal body to implement the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS-India) in India in 2013.

Between 2000 and 2006, the cultivation of Organically grown food started to expand and gradually India featured within the statistics of nations which were in the Top contending list of Organic Food producing countries in the world. However, the costs and complexity of Certification was onerous for the small and marginal farmers of India. Only the rich farmers and organisations who could afford the costs could convert for the sole purpose of exporting form India.

By 2002, the organisation ARISE (founded 1995) had paved way to formally register a pan-India Organic Farming association called Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI). OFAI was run by individuals who were working in the field of Sustainable Agriculture for the previous three decades or so. They realised that the entire prupose of Sustainable Agriculture, as earlier envisioned, was slowly creeping towards a market led approach, where certification was a sole purpose of this domain with a goal to reach for export markets. The domestic organic Food market was still not developed and the certification costs were a major reason for it. Then in 2006, OFAI convened with FAO, NCOF and other NGOs of India, to decide that the challenge of certification and market access shall be resolved through an innovative mechanism called Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). Eventually OFAI led the process to establish a national PGS Organic Council to implement the system for domestic market access for farmers from 2007 – 2013. In 2013, the Government of India too decided to formalise PGS (through PGS-India) for farmers across the country.

Current Scenario

According to a 2021 report by APEDA, the share of land used for organic farming in total agriculture land is 1.5%. 4.7 Million hectares of farmland is under Organic Farming in India making it the 2nd highest land bank under Organic, globally.

According to a 2000 census, there were roughly 5,661 farms overall organizations and that the proportion of organic land to all cultivated land was only 0.03 percent. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are leading organic farming in India. According to a 2002 report, India had raised approximately 14,000 metric tonnes of organic products.

In the last twenty years, India has increased it’s organic agriculture land under cultivation by 145.1%, introducing 22.9 metric tonnes of organic produce. The Economic Survey 2022-2023 (Chapter 8 & 9) mentions that India has 4.43 million organic farmers, the highest in the world. They consist of wheat, rice, coffee, tea, pulses, fruits, spices, and vegetables. India exports organic agricultural products to the European Union. USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Japan, Singapore, and Australia, among others.

Various states in India have a program of Natural Farming, which presently appears divergent from the imported agenda of Organic Farming from the west, but is gradually converging to find its own domestic niches. As of 2024, the Government of India is also considering a National Mission on Natural Farming, which is still in the works.

As of 2024, the FiBL has reported that India is now the country with the highest number of Organic Farmers. It is also in the top 5 with land under Organic Agriculture (including Wild Harvest) in the world. It also has one of the fastest growing domestic markets too.

Now considering the FiBL report of 2000 where India was but a single statistic, it has come a long way in implementing Sustainable Agriculture.

It is important to note that from post Green Revolution till about 2010 (with the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture) – the Government of India played a role to the extent of being a regulator and designing the Sustainable Agricultural strategy of India to suit exports.

It was the stalwart invididuals and organisations who kept pursing the work, despite setback and regulatory challenges who have sustained the journey of Agroecology of India till date. It is important to understand that this movement in India has been and will remain a grassroots lead movement. That the government is now playing a participatory role is a welcome step for the future. This step should be support by the Civil Society Organisations CSOs/NGPs, with or without support from the government.

Source – First FiBl Global Report 2000

What about the exports of organic food?

Creating a regulatory framework was the government’s most significant move towards organic farming. Indeed, the government’s efforts to establish organic farming through regulations are somewhat late, given that many other nations have long since completed this kind of fundamental work decades earlier.

The National Accreditation Policy and Programme (NAPP) was created to guarantee the implementation of NPOP. All organisations that certify organic products must comply with the regulations and hold accreditation from an accreditation agency. Even international certification agencies that operated in India prior to these regulations will be required to obtain accreditation under the new system.

The regulations establish the institutional framework for carrying out the national organic production programme. The NPOP is managed, monitored, and implemented for the benefit of farmers, processors, traders, and customers. It envisions a three-tiered organisation led by the Union Government and the Department of Commerce.

Accredited agencies include the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Coffee Board. The Tea Board and the Spice Board. The regulations apply to the export, import, and domestic trade of organic products. However, the government regulations are only applicable to exports. So, an organic farm product can only be exported as “organic” if it has been certified by a certification body that is accredited for the purpose by the government. Depending on the importing country, the equivalence with the Indian “Organic” standard may be recognised or the product may have to undergo another certification (with cost and complexity) in the importing country to be recognised as “Organic” there as well. Organic crop production, organic animal production, wild forest, forest products, and organic processing operations are the product categories covered by accreditation.
As the highest advisory body supporting the government in encouraging organic farming throughout the nation, a steering committee at the national level operates. Representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture make up this body.

Organic production requires certification after periodic inspections in order to ensure that all prescribed practices are genuinely followed. The inspection and certification are done by the agencies assigned by the government.

SOURCE: APEDA (Under NPOP only)

Source: Agriculture statistics at GLANCE 2022 (Page 103)

Conclusion:

Today, globally, agroecology/regenerative farming/natural farming/organic farming are considered as a viable solution for Sustainable Agriculture. India has also entered the global organic farming and market era.

The blog’s account of the history of Organic Farming teaches us that there were a few dedicated farmers and individuals advancing the cause of sustainable agriculture at a time but this number IS increasing year by year. A few of them are still present, and those that passed away, are also fading from public memory. However, it is important that time and again, society at large, revisits them through their work. At this phase India is growing but, with many obstacles on the way, such as climate change, a very important and dependent factor, and, other challenges of policies, consumer share etc. An understanding of these problems will go a long way in decision-making and the future. During our history of 100 years of organic farming in India, the main “importance” or the “need” of organic/natural farming was sprouted during and after Green Revolution.

There is also a historical context to ‘How’ India got this far in Agroecology. At times, in the present din of business of Organic Food, this aspect is all but forgotten. Therefore, Gram Disha Trust endeavors to revisit these important contributions in the last 100 years, which made “Bharat” into “India “. We hope one day, perhaps in our lifetime, we may be able to proudly, on another Independence Day that we belong to the the land – Bharat that is India.