Aida Page shares
on Facebook what ANN has written, “Participatory Guarantee System Kicks Off To
Empower Small Organic Farmers And Fisherfolk[1]” (Author Not Named, 04 June 2021, DA.gov.ph).
On that date, the Department of Agriculture (DA) launched the “Participatory
Guarantee System (PGS),” which is the key feature of Republic Act (RA) 11511.
At the launching, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar said:
Made possible by the
support of our legislators, RA 11511 opened opportunities for our small farmers…
who want a sustainable and environment-friendly organic practice through PGS.
RA 11511 amends the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 (RA
10068). ANN says of the new law:
As defined in the new
act, the PGS refers to a locally focused quality assurance system, which is
developed and practiced by people actually engaged in organic agriculture.
Quality is assured by common consent and assent of actual organic
practitioners.
Built on a foundation
of trust, social network and knowledge exchange, the system is used to certify
producers and farmers as actual and active organic agriculture practitioners
and serve as an alternative to third-party certification.
Third-party
certification is very expensive, from P42,000
to P150,000/crop[2] – meaning,
a poor farmer has to be rich first to become rich!
The PGS will
significantly reduce the cost of maintaining organic certification and actively
involve our small farmers and fisherfolk with like-minded stakeholders and
advocates of organic agriculture by maintaining the integrity of organic
products available in the market.
The new system also
directly contributes to the farm consolidation thrust of DA and will increase
the local availability of certified organic products of small and medium
farmers. Thus, large-scale organic producers could shift to export markets.
Mr
Dar is looking at the national agricultural scene like this: With their farms
consolidated, small-scale farmers can target the local consumers of organic
produce, large-scale farmers the consumers in foreign markets.
During the launch, officials and representatives of the
National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP), Bureau of Agriculture and
Fisheries Standards (BAFS), Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and member
agencies of the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB) also presented the Philippine Guaranteed Organic Mark for
organic products (above image). With NOAP, BAFS, ATI, and NOAB involved, this makes
PGS a national community-based policy.
Now, I want to emphasize why organic fertilizers are that important, nay necessary. Seipasa
says (17 February 2016, “The Benefits Of 100% Organic Full Fertilizers,” Seipasa.com):
Organic fertilizers
improve soil structure, help to retain nutrients, allow carbon fixation in the
substrate, and enhance the ability of the crop to absorb water.
Those are 4 functions. From Kenya, Frontiers Sustainable Systems says that 4 farms,
“over 4 years tested… a one-time application of organic fertilizers (found)
yearly crop edible yields increased overall for maize, sorghum, and sweet
potatoes.”
That
one-time application for 4 years proves organic fertilizers grow healthy crops –
for consumers’ healthy bodies and farmers’ healthy pockets.@517
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