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OSSOPCA To Drive Organic Farming in Orissa

Orissa (Odisha) is gearing up for a major drive to promote organic cotton after the completion of certification of the Odisha State Seeds and Organic Products Certification Agency (OSSOPCA).

Balakrushna Rath, chairman of Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Apicol) said to Business Standard recently “Our certification agency, OSSOPCA, is under the process of accreditation of the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). This will be a major milestone for getting our organic areas under certification program for better market strategy."

He also said that organic cotton cultivation has been done sucessfully with great results in the Kalahandi, Bolangir & Koraput districts of the state. There is a lot of scope for revival of spinning mills for producing the best quality of yarns for domestic as well as international markets.

Interestingly, organic farming in Orissa is a default practice in many districts due to low usage of fertilizers and pesticides by farmers, according to OSSOPCA. Farmers of districts like Koraput, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir,Gajapati, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanja use little or no chemicals and most of the area is organic by default. The agency contends that agro-climatic conditions in are such that it supports  agricultural biodiversity and is conducive for organic agriculture, thereby offering tremendous scope for cultivation of a wide range of organic products.

OSSCA, the Odisha State Seed Certification Agency was formed in June 1977 to function as a certification agency under the Seeds Act 1966 in the state of Orissa in India. Subsequently it has been renamed as the Odisha State Seed & Organic Products Certification Agency (OSSOPCA) to act as an agency that will perform the task of organic certification in the state of Odisha through an organic certification wing called the Odisha State Organic Certification Agency(OSOCA).

In November last year, officers of OSSOPCA were trained on setting up of Organic Certification Programme including preparation of manuals, documentation, development of templates and related subjects on setting up of Organic Certification Programme in OSSOPCA by APEDA.


Photo Courtesy: OSSOPCA
To read the full story: New certification agency to boost organic farming