Factors influencing farmers' willingness to participate in organic certification programmes and the challenges they face: A study of Jadcherla Mandal, Telangana

Introduction

Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the Indian economy, supporting the livelihood of a large share of the rural population. Growing concern over declining soil fertility, pesticide residues, and the long-term sustainability of input-intensive farming has directed attention towards organic agriculture as an ecologically balanced alternative. Organic farming avoids synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, and genetically modified inputs, relying instead on farmyard manure, composting, biofertilisers, crop rotation, and biological pest control to sustain soil health and productivity. India today holds the largest number of organic producers in the world and ranks second in organic agricultural area, with more than 17 lakh hectares under certified organic cultivation and a further 27 lakh hectares under conversion. This growth has been supported by national programmes such as the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for the North-Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER), and Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP). Organic certification is the formal mechanism through which farm produce is verified as having been grown and handled according to prescribed organic standards. It builds consumer trust, opens access to premium domestic and export markets, and enables farmers to capture better prices for their produce. However, the certification pathway is neither simple nor costfree: farmers must complete a mandatory conversion period, maintain detailed farm records, submit to periodic third-party inspection, and continuously comply with certification protocols. These requirements often prove difficult for small and marginal farmers who lack technical knowledge, documentation skills, and the financial cushion to absorb certification costs while forgoing premium prices during conversion. Private organic aggregators have increasingly stepped in to bridge this gap by combining structured training with continuous handholding support -regular farm visits, documentation assistance, inspection preparation, and market linkage -to help farmers complete certification successfully. www.extensionjournal.com Akshayakalpa Organic Private Limited is one such organisation working with farmers in Jadcherla Mandal of Mahabubnagar district, Telangana, where farmers are found across all stages of the certification journey: fully certified, undergoing certification, and pre-certification. While the economic rationale for organic certification is well established in the literature, comparatively little empirical work has examined, from the farmer's own perspective, the relative importance of the different motivating factors and constraints involved in the certification decision. This paper addresses that gap by identifying and ranking the factors influencing farmers' willingness to participate in organic certification programmes and the challenges they face in obtaining certification, using evidence from Jadcherla Mandal, Telangana.

Materials and Methods

The study adopted a descriptive research design and was conducted in Jadcherla Mandal of Mahabubnagar district, Telangana -a semi-arid region where paddy, cotton, maize, groundnut, pulses, and vegetables are the principal crops, and where Akshayakalpa Organic Private Limited has been actively promoting organic farming and certification through training, field demonstrations, technical guidance, and market linkage support. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 farmer respondents associated with the firm, drawn from three certification stages: 50 fully certified farmers, 30 farmers currently undergoing certification, and 20 farmers at the pre-certification stage. Primary data were collected through personal interviews using a pre-tested, structured interview schedule covering socio-economic characteristics, training participation, awareness levels, and the factors influencing willingness to participate in certification and the challenges encountered during the process. Secondary information was drawn from APEDA and NPOP publications, FiBL-IFOAM reports, NABARD publications, and company records. To identify and prioritise the factors influencing farmers' willingness to participate in certification programmes, and the challenges faced during certification, respondents were asked to rank a predetermined list of factors and challenges in order of importance. Rankings were converted into scores using the Garrett Ranking Technique, in which the percent position for each rank is computed as Percent Position = 100 x (Rij -0.5) / Nj, where Rij is the rank given to the ith factor by the jth respondent and Nj is the number of factors ranked by that respondent. The percent positions were converted to Garrett scores using Garrett's conversion table, and the mean Garrett score for each factor across all respondents determined its overall rank -a higher mean score indicating greater relative importance.

Results and Discussion

Factors Influencing Farmers' Willingness to Participate

Farmers' willingness to take up organic certification is shaped jointly by the economic returns it promises and the institutional support available to help them meet its requirements. Respondents were asked to rank ten factors that could motivate their participation, and the resulting Garrett scores are presented in Table 1. Health benefits from chemical-free farming (61.94) and increased consumer demand for organic products (58.67) were rated as moderately important, while government support and policy incentives (55.81) and the influence of fellow farmers' success stories (52.46) received the lowest scores, suggesting that direct institutional handholding is a stronger driver of participation than public policy support. 1, these results reveal a consistent pattern: the same domains that drive farmers towards certification -economic return and institutional support -are mirrored by the domains that most discourage them, namely certification cost and the burden of documentation.

Challenges Faced by Farmers in Obtaining Certification

Conclusion

Farmers' willingness to participate in organic certification programmes in Jadcherla Mandal is driven principally by the prospect of premium prices, reinforced by continuous training and handholding support, improved soil health, and better market access. At the same time, farmers face substantial barriers, foremost among them lengthy documentation requirements, high certification costs, and a prolonged conversion period. These findings suggest that raising farmer participation requires simplified, farmer-friendly record-keeping systems; mechanisms that ease the cost of certification, such as subsidies or group certification models; and forms of transitional income or market support during the conversion period, alongside sustained handholding support.

References

1. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). Annual report on organic farming and certification in India. New Delhi: APEDA; 2024-25.
2. Bhavani B, Sistla PS, Srilatha CH, Meena A. Tracing costs and value in organic food products: A study of Medak's farm-to-market chain. Int J Agric Ext Soc Dev. 2025;8(12):524-527.
3. FiBL, IFOAM -Organics International. The world of organic agriculture: Statistics and emerging trends. Frick and Bonn: FiBL and IFOAM; 2023.
4. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Status of organic farming and certification support in India. Mumbai: NABARD; 2023.
5. National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). National standards for organic production. New Delhi: APEDA, Government of India; 2020.
6. Telangana State Department of Agriculture. District agricultural profile, Mahabubnagar district. Hyderabad: Government of Telangana; 2024.