According to the World Organic Agriculture Statistics and Future Prospects 2003, India has only 0.03 per cent of agriculture under certified organic system, with over 41,000 hectares of land. India stands 16th in the World in Certified Organic Farm holdings with 5,661 farms, compared to Italy (56,440), Indonesia (45,000), Mexico (34,862), Uganda (28,200), Peru (19,685), Turkey (18,385) and Austria (18,292). Australia with only 1,380 certified organic farms stands first in the world in having the largest area under organic farming with 10,500,000 ha, but most of this is grazing land. Therefore, Australia's export of organic products includes meat as one of the major items.

Asia's 2.6 per cent of total area of world organic management has 15.1 per cent of organic farms (Source: SOEL-Survey, Feb. 2003). Japan has the major share of this Asian total, but this includes ‘Specially Cultivated Crop’ or ‘Green Products’ grown with reduced use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers. However, the new Japanese standards for organic products (JAS) introduced in 2001 exclude green products from the list of organic products. India is one of the 12 countries of Asia and the Pacific region, who have implemented certificate regulation.

The world retail sale of organic produce was estimated at $ 17.5 billion (US) in 2000 and about $ 21 billion in 2001 (Anon. 1) compared to $10 billion (US) in 1997. Most of the countries in the world are looking to develop their own organic produce.