Qualifying our roots

Standardisation of the term ‘organic’ coupled with a sharp look at total quality management at the farm level is imperative for increasing the popularity of Indian organic produce

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) started its involvement in organic agriculture in India in 2001 by supporting the setup of an Indian certification body named Indocert and located in Alwaye, Kerala. Indocert has now become a well-established entity with the increased participation of farmers, corporates, NGOs, food processors and traders. Its presence guarantees that the certification of organic products is no longer a bottleneck for the development of organic agriculture and the trade sector in India. Today the main concern is whether the certified producers find sufficient buyers and whether they will be able to meet the quality requirements of the export and domestic market.

FOCUS OF THE NEED ASSESSMENT

Seco has expressed its readiness to add a component to Indocert’s initiatives to improve the performance of the organic product chain in India: farm inputs, production, processing and trade (domestic and export). Hence it was decided to conduct a need assessment involving external experts in order to identify the relevant shortcomings of the sector and to define some suitable measures.

IMPLEMENTATION

Seco engaged Dietler Clavadetscher GmbH as an external and independent consultant to conduct the need assessment and to provide relevant suggestions that would make Indian organic produce competitive both globally and domestically. It is a consulting and management company based in Switzerland. Its field of operations are organic and label markets, collective enterprise development and imparting company specific counseling to increase the overall profitability. In the organic market, the organisation focuses on supply chain management, product launches and communication strategies. It provides services to the industry, government institutions and NGOs in Europe and South Asia. The need assessment was conducted from December 8-13, 2003 in India.

THE GROUND REALITIES

The Indian organic market is a typical example of a market in the pre-growth phase, suffering from an incertitude about the potential markets, lack of successful pioneers and courageous imitators coupled by incertitude regarding positioning. Typical of the pre-growth-phase of an organic market is the incertitude of consumers and many stakeholders. The unique selling proposition (USP) of organic products and the differences from the conventional production are not defined and disseminated as yet. The awareness about the residual effects of pesticides is good in some states and in the agglomeration of cities and metropolis of India.

THE EXPRESSION ‘ORGANIC’ IS STILL NOT PROTECTED AND THE AWARENESS IS DIFFUSED. SO IT IS A VERY IMPORTANT TASK AT THE BEGINNING ITSELF TO DEFINE WHAT ORGANIC PRODUCTS ARE, HOW THEY ARE DIFFERENT FROM CONVENTIONAL PRODUCTS AND WHAT ARE THEIR BENEFITS

This awareness is a very important factor in the assessment of the present status. Actually, some products that are sold as products “with less pesticide” are available in the market but there is no law in India that protects the term ‘organic’. Not taking the export market into consideration, the situation of the domestic market is in some aspects similar to the situation in Switzerland or the EU in the beginning of the nineties; especially regarding the aspects of awareness, implementation of national guidelines and distribution channels. All documented trends about the Indian food-market or the Indian society are an encouraging sign for further development of the organic products.

A SWOT ANALYSIS

For the Swot (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) analysis, the following parameters were considered key:

Strengths:
The export of Indian organic products is progressing. The Government support to organic agriculture, awareness regarding healthy foods and adverse effects of pesticides and the presence of their residues and the presence of International and national certification bodies in India are the dominating strengths of the country.

Weaknesses:
Major weaknesses are on the level of information and awareness levels. Most farmers have only fragmented land holdings and quality consciousness is low besides a total lack of marketing skills also severely hampers progress. Another area of concern to be noted is that the...

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