All India Organic Network Association (AIONA) is a national network of farmers, farmer organizations, civil society organizations, research institutions, certifiers, marketers, and government representatives involved in the promotion of organic agriculture in India.
Vision: Sustainable and inclusive organic value chains in India.
Mission: Build and continuously strengthen a network of people, institutions, and resources, to mould sustainable organic value chains that are inclusive of small farmers, peasants, NTFP collectors, small-scale processors, retailers, and other key stakeholders.
Objectives
- Establishing a network of key stakeholders in the organic value chain and promoting synergies and co-operation among them by initiating mutually beneficial dialogue between them.
- Demonstrating participation and working relationships with national and international networks and federations to influence policies and decisions on organic agriculture at the state, national and international levels.
- Promoting innovation, research, quality control and knowledge sharing in the organic value chain. Developing repositories of knowledge (online or offline) and communications for promoting organic and continuously updating it.
- Setting up concrete methodologies and structures to provide facilitating services for farmers and other key stakeholders at the national level to improve techniques and processes in the entire value chain for better organic production, aggregation, grading, packaging, processing, certification, and marketing.
- Ensuring that organic farming becomes a sustainable livelihood option for farmers including for small and marginalized farmers while safe, healthy and nutritious products are available and accessible for all.
- Contributing towards conservation of natural resources, seeds and socio-cultural wisdom and skills of farming and indigenous communities.
- Contributing towards the following Sustainable development goals – No Poverty (1), Zero Hunger (2), Good health and well-being (3), Reduce inequalities (10), Responsible consumption and production (12), Climate Action (13) and Life on land (15);
Working Groups
Farmers Working Group: has the goal to coordinate and assist the participation of farmers in AIONA and facilitate local innovations and exchange of knowledge among farmers in organic agriculture production, processing, certification, and marketing while exchanging knowledge on farmer experiences, challenges, and solutions with other working groups in the AIONA.
Certification Working Group: has the goal to coordinate and assist the participation of certification organizations in AIONA and facilitate interactions between various certification organizations and harmonization of multiple certification systems and standards while sharing about the experiences and challenges faced by certification organizations with other working groups in the AIONA and to incorporate certification organization’s demands into the larger agenda of AIONA.
Trade Working Group: has the goal to bring organic processors, distributors, retailers, and exporters together to promote and protect the growing organic sector while representing the industry to government on sector needs, market development, and promotion, and propagate the latest information and quick answers on organic regulations and standards in India and around the world.
Researcher Working Group: has the goal to increase recognition of the research work among multiple stakeholders and get access to funds, collaborative opportunities, and baseline data for research work while engaging in real-time feedback on research work from multiple stakeholders