Uttarakhand - Get Organic Agriculture Product Certificate

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. A person (a farmer/ group of farmer’s /processor/ trader) who is looking for an organic farming certificate for their agricultural produce must ensure that his/her farm conforms to the standards laid out by the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) for organic crop production.
2. They must submit an application in the requisite format along with the fee and complete field verification as specified by the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).
3. The Uttarakand State Organic Certification Agency (USOCA) has provided the general standards for organic crop production which are available in the USOCA website Link
4. The application form is available in the below link Link > Common Application Form.The process flow is available at Link , where the steps for certification is provided.
5. All the information as requested by the Uttarakand State Organic Certification Agency (USOCA) in the application must be provided such as the name, addresses, details of contact person, field location, details of group must be completed, signed and returned to the office for registration in tracenet.
6. The operator is registered on tracenet and sends the System Plan and Agreement format for Organic certification.
7. The system plan is evaluated and approval is provided.
8. The prescribed registration fee, field inspection fee, one time travel cost should be paid by the requested person along with the application form.
9. On receipt of the payment, fixes the inspection date in consultation with the operator and send the inspection intimation letter along with the copy of the farm records and copy of NPOP Standard.
10. The inspection shall be conducted on the day finalized and the signed copy agreement will be provided to the operator. A copy of the inspection report will be handed over to operator at the time of inspection. The detailed inspection report is submitted to evaluator.
11. For individual operator the detailed crop list along with the major and minor non conformities along with the deadline for corrective actions is entered into the trace net.
12. For group farmers The CB verifies the data entered in the tracenet by the group and also enter the major and minor nonconformities along with the deadline for corrective actions.
13. After receipt of the full payment the evaluator reviews the operator file and submits the same to the Certification committee. The Certification committee takes a final decision based on the corrective measures taken by the operator against the Non conformities raised in the inspection report
14. The Quality Manager will generate the certificate through the tracenet and send the same to the operator.
15. For use of the certification agency logo/ India Organic Logo, the operator must send a request for the same to the office which after approval by the Certification committee will be sent to the operator as per the NSOP. The draft of labels must be sent to certification agency office for verification and approval before printing.

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Required Documents

The below are the necessary documents:-

• Application form in the prescribed format
• General information of the farm
• Annual Cropping programme
• Field map
• Water and soil Test reports
• PAN copy
• AADHAR copy
• Passport size photograph
• GPS reading (latitude & longitude) of his farm/unit

And any other procedures/documents as required by along with the required fee with all the above documents the application form should be sent to The Director, USOCA .

Office Locations & Contacts

Uttarakand State Organic Certification Agency (USOCA)
Director
Third Floor, Krishak Bhavan.
Mussoorie By Pass, Ring Road
Nehru Gram, Dehradun-24806
(Uttarakhand), India
Ph.0135-2669920, 2671734
Fax: 2671861
E-Mail:- [email protected]

Eligibility

The product to get the certification needs to be associated with the authenticity since two to three years. For first time certification, the soil must meet the basic requirements of being free from the use of prohibited substances (synthetic chemicals, etc) for a number of years. A conventional farm must adhere to organic standards for this period.

Fees

The detailed fee structure is available at Link

Validity

Organic certificate remains valid for one year only, it has to be renewed every year.

Documents to Use

• General standards for organic crop production - Link
• Application form - Link > COMMON Application Form
• Renewal of application form for individual Link
• Procedure for Organic certification - Link
• Renewal of application form for group Renewal Application form
• Fee structure - Link

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

That depends on the history of your operations and your compliances with certification standards and regulations. It takes two years for annual crops and three years for perennial crops to be certified as organic.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Application shall be scrutinized.
• Any information required shall be communicated to the operator and operator shall submit the requested information immediately.
• Application without prescribed fee shall not be reviewed.
• After review of application decision shall be made by USOCA on acceptance/ rejection of the application.
• The rejected application shall be returned to the applicant citing reasons for rejection along with the fees enclosed.
• Fee paid for the applications accepted by USOCA shall not be refunded at any circumstances.
• An initial onsite inspection shall be fixed and communicated to the operator after registration or shall be noted in the registered copy of application itself.
• An applicant can withdraw the application at any time but the fees paid shall not be refunded.

Required Information

The below are the necessary details for Organic Agriculture product registration:

1. Name of the Operator
   
2. Address of the farm unit
   
3. Name of the responsible person
   
4. Total area of the farm
   
5. Crop requested for certification
   
6. Soil fertility/ Nutrient management details
   
7. Source of seed
   
8. Inputs for disease and pest control
   
9. Livestock
   
10. Harvesting and storage details
    

Need for the Document

Organic certification addresses a growing worldwide demand for organic food. It is intended to assure quality and prevent fraud. For organic producers, certification identifies suppliers of products approved for use in certified operations. For consumers, "certified organic" serves as a product assurance, similar to "low fat",
"100% whole wheat", or "no artificial preservatives". Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. Individual certification bodies have their own service marks, which can act as branding to consumers—a certifier may promote the high consumer recognition value of its logo as a marketing advantage to producers. Most certification bodies operate organic standards that meet the National government's minimum requirements.

Information which might help

• If the Organic System of operation does not comply with the Standards, the operator shall be intimated about denial of certification stating the reasons for such action with non-conformities noticed and time limit for submission of correction.
• The operator may write to certification agency office if there are any complaints against either the staff or the organization or certification decision or any other related matter
• In cases where the operator is not satisfied with the manner in which the complaint was dealt with, particularly related to any certification decision, the operator may appeal in writing to the certification agency appellate authority along with a prescribed fees within 21 days of certification decision.
• The appellate authority shall review the case and submit a decision to the operator. All complaints and appeals will be dealt with confidentially in a fair and appropriate manner and a decision will be taken and informed to the concerned operator.
• A notice of denial of certification shall inform the operator about the reasons and applicants right to reapply for certification or file an Appeal to the Appeal Committee.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

India Organic Certification is a label given to organic products after validation, which ensures that the product or raw materials used in the product were grown through organic farming - without any chemical fertilizers,  pesticides, or induced hormones. A trademark - "India Organic" will be granted on the basis of compliance with the National Standards for Organic Production (NSOP). Communicating the genuineness as well as the origin of the product, this trademark will be owned by the Government of India

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.