NOCU holds organic farming workshop for int’l market prospects
The National Organic Control Unit (NOCU) organised an awareness workshop for the stakeholders engaged in organic agriculture-related activities to educate them on the role of the NOCU and international market prospects for organic agriculture products.
The workshop was held yesterday, at the Export Development Board (EDB) third floor auditorium. This workshop was organised for growers/ farmers, processors, traders, exporters, importers other organic related entrepreneurs, etc.
The NOCU has been established under the EDB as per the regulations published under section 29 of the Export Development Act No. 40 of 1979 in the extraordinary gazette no. 1870/71 dated July 11, 2014.
The NOCU is mandated to control and monitor all organicrelated activities such as cultivation, processing, trading, certification, laboratory testing, import and export of organic products with the intention of streamlining the local and export markets in order to ensure the credibility of the organic agriculture products of Sri Lanka.
The main functions of the NOCU are to protect the credibility and safeguard the image of Sri Lanka by proper controlling of all organic activities related to cultivation, processing, certification and sales.
The Advisory and Technical committees of the NOCU consist of experts engaged in a diverse range of organic activities in the country. The two committees will help to develop policies and implement programmes for quality assurance of all organically-related activities within the country by monitoring the organic value chain from producer to market.
The NOCU has initiated work to establish organic products in the local market with required standards. The NOCU collaboratively works with all government institutions engaged in the organic agriculture-related activities in the country to ensure sustainable development in the field of organic agriculture.