Organic certification
OVERVIEW:
Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organicagricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can becertified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants
Organic certification is a written assurance given by an independent third party about the production methodology and quality of products to conform to special requirements. In other words, it is a written guarantee issued by independent certifying body (CB) and it officially states that the production process or product complies with certain standards. Certification has been a powerful tool for creating trust, and, thereby, markets for organic products. The main purpose of certification is to give the consumers confidence that the products they buy as organic, actually are organically produced. But there are also other benefits of certification.
Certification brings opportunities for protection of local resources, improvement of producers and consumers health and eventually raising living condition of people.
Production planning: Certification requires the producers to have documentation and production planning. This can make the production more efficient and profitable.
Facilitation of marketing and extension: The data collected in the process of certification can be very useful for market planning as well as for extension and research.
Certification creates transparency: There is a basic principle of transparency that requires certification programs to make public who is certified and what products are certified. This transparency facilitates direct contacts between producers and consumers/buyers, and unnecessary middlemen lose power they have had based on access to information.
Certification improves the “image” of organic agriculture in the society as a whole and increases the credibility and the visibility of the organic movement.
Certification can also facilitate the introduction of special support schemes for organic agriculture, since it defines a group of producers to support. Without certification it is difficult to implement special support for organic farms.
