Q. Consider the following statements about the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India):

1. It is an initiative under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries
2. It promotes organic farming certification in the country through a process of third-party certification

Which of the above statements is/are correct?
Answer: Neither 1 nor 2
Notes: First statement is incorrect. Participatory Guarantee System is an initiative under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. It is a quality assurance initiative for certification of organic products in the country. Second statement is incorrect. PGS-India emphasises on the participation of stakeholders and operates outside the frame work of third party certification. Third Party certification is applied in case of National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). In other words, PGS is an alternative method to guarantee the organic integrity of products that have been developed by small domestic producers. Organic foods in India have to comply with the provisions under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) or the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India). The problem being faced by the PGS-India System is that developed market like US and European Union do not recognise the PGS System. So foods certified as organic under the PGS-System cannot be exported to these markets for sale. To combat the problem, the Food regulator FSSAI has come out with a draft regulation for organic food products, seeking to ensure that these food items are actually organic.