Organic Push for Farmers, Consumers & Nation
Ayear ago on January 11, the Union Cabinet approved the formation of National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL), to increase the profit of organic farmers, the health of the consumers and cover the entire supply chain of organic products through cooperative networks. The NCOL will undertake aggregation, certification, production, testing, procurement, storage, processing, branding, packaging, labelling, and marketing of organic products.
In less than a year, the NCOL made significant progress in its journey. On November 8, 2023, a newly established cooperative body to promote organic produce saw the launch of its logo, website, brochure, and membership certificates to 5 cooperative societies. The Union Minister Amit Shah launched six organic products namely tur dal, chana dal, sugar, rajma, basmati rice, and Sona masoori rice, under “Bharat Organics” a brand of NCOL. These products will be sold through 150 Mother Dairy's Safal outlets and online platforms. Along with this, with the concept of ‘Organic Under One Roof,' a retail outlet network of all organic products was also started.
Committed to the ideals of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas” to build an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the NCOL was established under the Multi-state Cooperative Societies Act
(2002) with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) being the chief promoter along with other promoters such as National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd (NCCF), Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
Launched with an authorised capital of Rs
500 crore, NCOL till December 2023, has received 2,614 applications from cooperative institutions for membership from 24 states/union territories.
This will be the biggest undertaking of the country in the next five years and will prove to be a big leap towards achieving the government's goal to provide better health to all the countrymen. It will give recognition to organic products produced by farmers engaged in natural farming in the global market in the coming days.
To make a long-term market plan for organic products sustainable, it is very important to have a laboratory recognised by National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) in every district and tehsil of the country. Currently there are a total of
246 laboratories in the country, out of which 147 are private and 99 are of the government, but out of these, only 34 labs are recognised by NPOP.
With the Whole of Government Approach, the government has decided to set up about 100 mobile laboratories and 205 laboratories by next year in collaboration with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and other government institutions. It will set up 300 laboratories and almost every district of the country will be covered, due to which testing and certification of land and products can also be done. Thus, there will be 439 laboratories across the country by 2024, which will provide great convenience to the 4.43 million organic farmers, the highest in the world ( The Economic Survey 20222023) in getting their products certified and also to the NCOL in purchasing the certified products.
According to IMARC Group, the Indian organic food market has reached $1.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to experience significant growth, reaching $8.9 billion by 2032 at a projected CAGR of 21.19 per cent for the period 2024-2032.
India produced 2.9 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of certified edible organic products for marketing year (MY) 2022-23 and exported 0.312 MMT of certified organic products during the year amounting to foreign currency realisation of $708.33 million. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that India's organic products market (encompassing food and beverages, health and wellness, beauty and personal care, and textiles) will grow to $10.1 billion by 2026.
Establishment of a national-level cooperative to promote organic products is a significant step towards boosting the rural economy, promoting “Make in India” along with paving the way for
“Atma Nirbhar Bharat” and “Local to Global”. Further efforts should be made to leverage the strengths of cooperatives and transform them into successful and vibrant business enterprises to realise the vision of “Sahakar-se-samriddhi”. It is thus imperative for the cooperatives to think globally and act locally to leverage their comparative advantage.