Background

Currently, there are two government sanctioned mechanisms for issuance of organic certification:

1. PGS Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS): Farmers in a group inspect each other’s land and vouch for its organic credentials. If a farmer is found to be in violation, her produce is not sold through the group till she rectifies her mistake.
2. Third party certification: The farms are certified by authorized third party certifying agencies.

Problems

1. One of the significant issues in organic farming is that certifications are required from multiple parties for
   the products to be deemed ‘organic’.
2. Major markets for export do not accepts PGS certification, while third party certification, as insisted by APEDA, is very costly.
3. The database of India’s organic products is very poor, and traceability, which is key for export growth,
   remains weak,
4. There is no mechanism to link certifications by third parties and PGS.

Solutions and Methodology

• GreenTrust offers a solution for obtaining certification in organic farming by organizing credible and decentralized Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGSs).
• In order to secure certification, every harvest must be sponsored by certified farmers who contribute a stake as a form of assurance that organic farming methods have been properly implemented.
• The platform utilizes decentralized IoT sensor data to monitor and track various environmental conditions.
• Additionally, any individual may challenge the organic authenticity of a particular harvest on the platform.
• These challenges are then evaluated by a certified inspector, and if the challenge is deemed to be valid, the challenger will receive the stake put forward for the harvest.
• Conversely, if the challenge is found to be invalid, the challenger will lose the stake they put forward to initiate the challenge.