Shillong, Oct 7: Ahead of the second phase of its ambitious State Organic Mission, Meghalaya has moved to tighten its certification and traceability systems.
The Meghalaya Natural and Organic Farming Society for Livelihood and Innovation in Agriculture (MEGNOLIA) organised a three-day residential training on NPOP Organic Certification from October 5 to 7 at MAMETI, Upper Shillong, in collaboration with FoodChain ID (FCID).
The training was a direct outcome of the review meeting held on September 17 at the State Convention Centre, where lack of field-level expertise in certification was identified as a major bottleneck for scaling up organic farming.
As many as 130 participants attended, including District Programme Managers, Field Inspectors, ICS Managers, district horticulture officers from all 12 districts, representatives of KFW-SLM under MBDA, farmer producer organisations, cooperatives and organic farmers.
The sessions were led by FCID experts Sanchal Prabhu and Amruta Raoran.
On day one, participants were trained on national and international organic regulations — NPOP, USDA-NOP, EU, Bio-Suisse, JAS and others — besides APEDA norms, crop planning, pest management and soil-water conservation.
Day two focused on the core of group certification — Internal Control Systems, covering ICS formation, internal inspections, risk assessment, yield estimation, non-compliance, sanctions and handling of the India Organic and Jaivik Bharat logos.
The final day dealt with trading and traceability — supplier verification, mass balance, Tracenet operations, storage and transport — followed by an assessment.
MEGNOLIA CAO Maqbool L. Suiam and COO D. Barishisha Mukhim were present during the programme, which ended with a valedictory and certificate distribution.
Officials said the capacity building is critical to ensure credible, compliant and traceable organic produce as the state gears up for MSOM Phase II.
