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“PGS is an internationally applicable organic quality assurance system implemented and controlled by the committed organic farmer-producers through active participation, along with the consumers, in the process based on verifiable trust. It is not an “inspection raj” certification system but, rather, one that is based on personal integrity and peer pressure. Integrity is honesty when no one is looking over your shoulder to see what you are doing. The farmer pledges that the production process is free from manufactured chemicals (fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, hormones, etc) and lives by his word of honor. The “Local Group” of five or more organic farmers is the fulcrum of the self-regulatory support system of PGS. The quality assurance standards are harmonized by the PGS Organic India Council, which permits the use of its PGS label on a product as a mark of quality.”
In India, PGS began with an effort by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, holding consultations with farmers, NGOs and state government officials, to work on a model specific to India's needs. After a national workshop in Goa in September 2006, pilot programs were launched in different parts of the country. Now, the overall PGS Indian network is coordinated by the PGS Organic India Council, with an estimate number of 2,500 farmers already certified through PGS in India.
The PGS Organic India Council is registered as a society and it is formed by one representative of each of the nine organizations that perform as PGS Organic Facilitation Councils within the network: IIRD, OFAI, Keystone Foundation, DDS, Chetana Vikas, CCD, Timbaktu Collective, Grassroots and GREEN Foundation. The Executive Committee consists of Joy Daniel, Miguel Braganza and Mathew John as President, Secretary and Treasurer. The PGS Organic India Council meets every 6 months to review and help the movement to spread across the country.
The Keystone PGS and the Organic Bazaar network have joined the PGS Indian network.
Detailed information about this national network can be found on the website of the PGS Organic India Council at: http://www.pgsorganic.in/
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