The Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) headed by the Agricultural Marketing Advisor, Department of Agriculture & Co-operation (DAC) implements agricultural marketing policies and programmes of the Government of India. It undertakes Standardization, Grading and Quality control of agricultural and allied produce.
Standard development activity:
Standards of various agricultural commodities prescribed under the provision of the Agricultural Produce (Grading & Marking) Act, 1937 are popularly called AGMARK Standards. These standards differentiate between quality and 2-3 grades are prescribed for each commodity. DMI develops and publishes its AGMARK standards for different agricultural and allied produce in the form of Grading & Marking Rules of the commodities under the scheme for Promotion of Standardization and Grading of Agricultural and Allied Produce. So far 222 commodities have been formulated and notified under the Agricultural Produce (G&M) Act 1937. Click here to see the list of notified commodities.
Certification activities of DMI:
The DMI is implementing the scheme of certification of agricultural commodities for domestic trade and export. The Scheme is voluntary except for Blended Edible Vegetable Oils and Fat Spread certification under AGMARK is mandatory as per provisions in The Food Safety and Standards Act and regulations, 2006.
The commodities certified under Agmark for domestic trade are spices, ghee, butter, mustard oil, wheat atta, Besan, honey, etc. The inspection and certification is carried out as per the grade standards notified in the Grading & Marking Rules for respective commodities. The certification scheme is implemented through 11 Regional Offices, 26 Sub Offices, 11 Regional Agmark Laboratories and Central Agmark Laboratory (Apex laboratory) of the Directorate.
DMI has provided Guidelines for grant of Certificate of Authorization for grading and marking of Agricultural commodities under Agmark for internal trade for the person desirous of grading and certifying a notified agricultural commodity under Agmark.
Click here to get the information about Organic Certification.
International approval:
European Commission has approved the procedure of preshipment inspection under Agmark for exports of fruits and vegetables to EU countries. Directorate General of Foreign Trade has notified DMI as inspection and certification body for exports of fruits and vegetables to EU countries
Contact address: jsmktg-agri@gov.in
Website: http://dmi.gov.in/Default.aspx