State’s 1st organic certification agency at Hisar university

Tribune News Service

Hisar, May 25

The Haryana Government has given its approval to set up the state’s first organic certification agency at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU). Haryana Organic Certification Agency (HOCA) will start functioning within a month.

In the absence of a government organic certification agency, growers had to rely on third-party certification by private labs or other state agencies till now. Vice-Chancellor KP Singh said both the state government and the university were making efforts to promote organic farming in the state, but due to absence of organic certification, growers were forced to get certification for their produce from outside agencies.

With the setting up of HOCA, farmers will not have to go through the lengthy and costly process, he said. “There will now be no hurdle in marketing and export of organic produce from Haryana, as HOCA will also be equipped with a sophisticated testing laboratory for pesticide residue and nutritional value,” he said.

The university has also set up an organic farming centre—Deendayal Upadhyay Centre of Excellence for Organic Farming (DDUCE-OF)

How certification works

Vice-Chancellor KP Singh said there were two systems of organic certification. The first, self-certification (participatory guarantee scheme), was not effective for export purposes. The second, third-party certification, which was mostly adopted for export purposes, involved higher cost. The establishment of HOCA will help organic growers of the state obtain third-party certification in a cost-effective manner and enable them to sell their certified produce in the domestic and international markets.

— with the Vice-Chancellor as its ex-officio chairperson.