Directorate of Agriculture Kashmir authorized as Regional Council for PGS India Program

SRINAGAR : Directorate of Agriculture, Kashmir, has been authorized as the Regional Council for PGS India Program which will help the farmers to get their organic produce certified ensuring them good marketing opportunities outside Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking about this authorization, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dulloo, said that this is a welcome development and its interventions would pave the way for Organic Certification of Agricultural Produce of the farmers. This would play a key role in effective implementation of projects related to organic certification enabling holistic development of Agriculture sector in J&K.

The National Centre for Natural and Organic Farming in its meeting of the National Executive Committee of PGS India has authorized the Directorate of Agriculture, Kashmir as the Regional Council for PGS India Program.

Pertinent to mention, Regional Council (RC) is ideally floated by State agencies, existing NGOs, Organic Certification service providers of Central and State Governments or any other agency (producers, consumers, retailers, traders and Societies / Gram panchayats/ farmer etc.,).

Regional Council is an agency authorized by PGS-NAC to coordinate, monitor and approve certification decisions of Local Group under PGS-India organic Guarantee programme.

Regional Council will impart necessary training and support to existing and new local groups in procedures and paper work necessary for each farmer organic guarantee. It would also translate and print PGS paper work in local language. It would also register local groups and issue user ID and password for data uploading on PGS India website. Facilitation of local groups in data uploading on PGS website.

The Regional Council would confirm that the Local Group Summary Worksheet, listing all the farms that are to be Certified Organic, is complete and was conscientiously maintained by the group.