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Certification |
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Status of Certification in Sri Lanka |
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Internationally, the first regulation on
organic farming (Regulation EEC N0 2092/91)
was drawn up in 1991 and since its implementation in
1992, many farms across the EU have converted to organic
production methods. Where farmers wish to claim official
recognition of their organic status, the conversion
period is minimum of two years before sowing for annual
crops and three for perennials. |
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Nationally, Sri Lanka still do not have a
nationally (accredited) organic certification system and
a national certification body. However, the voluntary
efforts of a national association (LOAM) and a core
group on OA, facilitated by GTZ (VCP) and Helvetas Sri
Lanka have helped the Ministry of Environment and
Natural Resources to prepare and publish a set of
guidelines for organic production and processing. This
was published by the Ministry of Environment
and Natural Resources in 2005, but does not function as
a mandatory regulation. |
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Currently, the private sector and
government cooperate in setting up a national
certification body in Sri Lanka through a project mainly
supported by the EU small grants facility. As part of
this, recently, Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) has
been engaged in preparing national organic standards.
This has resulted in incorporation of National Organic
Certification Guarantee Limited (NOCGL). This will take
up its functions officially in early 2008, thereby, it
will become the official national level certification
programme for organic production and processing in Sri
Lanka. |
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For meeting the requirements of the
organic export sector in Sri Lanka, certification is
carried out by foreign certification agencies. Organic
export is, thus, regulated by European Union, National
Organic Program – NOP of USDA and Japanese Agriculture
Standards (JAS). Some Certification agencies such as
Control Union – formerly known as SKAL International
(Netherlands) and IMO (Switzerland) have local
inspectors for carrying out inspection in Sri Lanka and
also in the region. Presently, there are seven
international certification agencies operating in the
country, as external inspection or/and certification
bodies as listed below; |
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| 1 |
Control Union (SKAL,
Netherlands) |
| 2 |
NASAA, Australia |
| 3 |
Naturland, Germany |
| 4 |
Institute for
Market Ecology – IMO, Switzerland |
| 5 |
EcoCert, Germany |
| 6 |
Organic Farmers and
Growers Ltd, United Kingdom |
| 7 |
Demeter and
BioSuisse, Switzerland |
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In organic agriculture sub-sector, the
key institutions active are mainly private companies and
non-governmental organizations. Government initiatives
became prominent only in the past couple of years. |
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| Further
Reading: |
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1 |
Introduction to LOAM
and Certification Guidelines
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Download Presentation
( , PDF
Format, 137kb) |
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2 |
Preparing Ground for
Certification |
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Download Presentation
(, PDF
Format, 755kb) |
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3 |
Supply Chain
Support for Production, Processing & Marketing
of Organic Export Agriculture Crops in Sri Lanka |
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N K Anura
Rupasinghe (2008) |
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Download
Presentation ( PDF
Format, 896kb) |
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3 |
SriCert
- an Introduction |
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Download Document
( PDF
Format, 100kb) |
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