OFAI offers its members a choice of opting for or following one of two certification system: TPS (Third Party System) and PGS (Participatory Guarantee System).

Of the two, PGS is simpler and cheaper and its operation is controlled by the organic farming community itself. In fact, PGS is recommended for organic farmers who work as a group or who can come together as a group at the village or taluka level. PGS is also designed mostly for small and marginal farmers and will be extremely useful in situations where such communities are serviced by NGOs or self help groups (SHGs). Those opting for the PGS system should inform either the state secretariat or the central secretariat accordingly.

Those opting for TPS would be largely isolated farmers, or farmers living in remote areas and who are unable to form a local group under PGS because their numbers are too small. (For the PGS, minimum membership in the local group is five).

This website provides the entire documentation for OFAI’s TPS and PGS procedures. These are also available in booklet form from the secretariat.

It is important to emphasize and to clarify that both TPS and PGS are based on OFAI organic farming guidelines which are themselves in harmony with IFOAM 2005 organic standards and the NSOP (Government of India).