farming with conscience

7/30/2019 Farming With Conscience

1/3Rural 21 03/2012 29

Focus

Farming with a conscienceInitiated by non-governmental organisations and private citizens in the mid 1980s,

organic agriculture is still in its infancy in the Philippines. Today, the government

is providing the means towards a globally competitive yet sustainable organic

industry. In this context, the Organic Agriculture Program of the University of the

Philippines Los Baos supports vegetable production by smallholder farmers.

This patch of vegetables is for our

home consumption, so I dont use pesti-

cides here. That bigger vegetable areais for selling ... of course I use pesticides

and fertilisers to ensure good harvests

and income.

A common response from a conven-

tional vegetable farmer.

Greater consumer awareness o

human health and environmental haz-

ards caused by the indiscriminate use o

pesticides and ertilisers has increased

the demand or sae organically pro-

duced ood in the Philippines. In

response, the private sector, non-gov-

ernmental organisations (NGOs), gov-

ernment agencies, local government

units and peoples organisations have

engaged in various activities geared

towards organic arming.

The University o the Philippines Los

Baos (UPLB) initiated its Organic Agri-

culture Program in 2007. It ocuses on

spreading organic vegetable produc-tion among smallholder armers not

only as a technology but also as arm-

ing with a conscience, an alternative

way o lie that includes personal and

social responsibility. The project aims

to promote sae and healthul ood,

protect human health and the envi-

ronment, support sustainable liveli-hoods and harmonise the participa-

tion o government agencies and the

civic sector. From 2007 to 2010, it

was unded by the National Economic

and Development Authority under

the Philippine-Japan Grant Assistance

or Underprivileged Farmers. It was

piloted in three selected towns in

Southern Luzon. Phase 2 o the pro-

ject is currently being unded by the

Department o Agriculture Bureau o

Agricultural Research in another two

adjacent towns rom 2011 to 2013.

There is collaboration with the arm-

ers associations, municipal and provin-

cial authorities, government agencies,

NGOs and the private sector.

n What has been reached?

Building farmers capabilities:Knowledge-building among armer

groups has included training series and

seminars on various aspects o organic

vegetable production and marketing.

Leadership and organisational strength-

ening have been addressed, too. Field

trips, cross-arm visits, attendance o

conerences and actual selling in trade

airs have boosted armers knowledge,

skills and confdence, broadening their

minds towards networking and col-

laborating with other agencies and the

private sector. Cross-arm visits have

encouraged armer-to-armer exchange

Blesilda M. Calub

University Researcher

Integrated Farming Systems and

Agricultural Extension Division

College of Agriculture

University of the Philippines Los Baos

Laguna, Philippines

[email protected]

Farmers proudly harvest the organictomatoes their family has produced.

Photo:B.

Calub


2/330 Rural 21 03/2012

Focus

o knowledge and techniques. Farmers

have realised the value o team work and

joint decision-making to overcome chal-

lenges. The initial group o 20 armers

has now grown to about 50. They are

armer leaders in their respective villages

and have promoted both organic veg-

etables and rice arming.

Farmer partners have been trained as

armer trainers so that even i the pro-

ject ends, they will be able to pass on

their knowledge o organic arming to

others interested. The project has pro-

duced visual aids, booklets, handbooks

and a video in the local language that

the trainers can use and distribute. They

now regularly conduct training and

seminars or new members as well as or

other armer associations, schools andcivic groups. They have been invited to

local and national radio programmes

and national television to share their

success stories on organic agriculture.

Farmers have learnt how to deal

with documents, write project propos-

als and negotiate or unds. As a result,

they have, or example, obtained liveli-

hood unds rom several government

programmes.

Early on, the armers themselves

decided to install a group savings und.

They agreed to pay a minimal amount

as monthly dues and set aside part o

their profts rom sales o organic veg-

etables and vermicompost.

More food security, lower production

costs. Thanks to the diversifed crop-

ping system, armers are able to har-

vest vegetables they can consume or

sell almost every day. The calendared

planting and harvesting o vegetables

enables a virtually year-round supply

o vegetables.

Together with the amer groups, the

UPLB team has standardised the ormula

o organic ertiliser rom ermented

chicken manure. Now able to meet the

registration requirements o the Ferti-

lizer and Pesticide Authority, the armers

hold a license to manuacture, distributeand sell their organic ertiliser.

With vermicomposting, armers

can save ertiliser costs while earning

income rom selling compost and the

worms. The project team has also suc-

cessully collaborated with the solid

waste management ofce o two towns

in the project site. Vegetable and ruit

peelings rom the town market are used

as substrate or vermicomposting.

To ensure the source o worms (Ari-

can Night Crawlers) or vermicompost-

ing, a pay orward system has been

introduced. An initial ten armers receive

a kilogramme each o worms to culture

in prepared vermicomposting bins.

Ater about three months, the worms

have doubled in number. The armers

have to pay orward one kilogramme

o worms to another interested armer

and so on, ensuring a built-in source o

worms even i the project stops.

More income from direct sale.

Organic vegetable production and

marketing have increased household

incomes thanks to increased productiv-

ity per unit area. The armers can eas-

ily sell their organic products at prices10 30 per cent higher than conven-

tional ones on local markets. Organic

Product Centers were set up as the

UPLB team linked the project armers

groups to the Department o Agri-

cultures Agribusiness and Marketing

Assistance Division which also provided

start-up capital or the shops. In one o

the project sites, the town mayor pro-

vided counterpart unds. Linkage with

the Department o Trade and Industry

has resulted in marketing assistance

and ree training or armers on entre-

preneurship.

In addition, armers have been

exposed to trade airs and estivals

where they can sell their organic veg-

etables at higher prices. Here, they

meet and link up with other organic

armers and potential customers. For

a year now in Quezon province, the

provincial governor has organised aFriday organic market which has been

attracting organic armers and buyers

rom nearby towns. One o the armer

groups has been invited by its town

parish priest to sell organic products

in the churchyard at least once a week.

Assuring organic product quality.

The project initially organised work-

shops to install internal control systems

or project sites to ensure that organic

products conorm with certifcation

standards. A manual was developed

to serve as a guide or armers towards

group certifcation under the Organic

Farmerscan sell atpremiumprices and get

to link up withother organicadvocatesby joiningweekendmarkets andfairs.

Photo:B.

Calub


3/3Rural 21 03/2012 31

Focus

Certifcation Center o the Philippines

(OCCP). However, the process and

documents became too complicated

and expensive or the smallholder

armers. So the project team shited

to the Participatory Guarantee System

(PGS; see article on pages 18-21). The

UPLB team collaborated with the Ofce

o the Provincial Agriculturist and

MASIPAG, a local NGO recognised by

the International Federation o Organic

Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). A

series o stakeholder workshops gave

birth to the development o a set o

organic standards and a manual o

operations or the province o Quezon.Later, a PGS committee was created

by workshop participants. Quezon is

now the frst province in the country

to establish a PGS at provincial level.

Farmer inspectors and members o the

Evaluation and Approval Committee

have already been trained. The PGS

is currently being pilot-tested in three

towns o Quezon province.

To urther ensure product quality, a

modifed rapid test kit was developed

at UPLB to detect pesticide residues in

vegetables. Selected agricultural tech-

nicians and armer inspectors were

recently trained and given sample test

kits to assess ease o use and reliability

in the feld. Refnements will be done

based on their eedback.

Challenges ahead

Despite much progress already

made, a number o challenges still have

to be mastered:

Adaptation to climate change.Erratic

weather has negatively aected produc-

tion and hence year-round availability

o organic vegetables. Greenhouses

and rain shelters can protect crops

rom excessive rains. Rainwater can be

harvested, stored and released during

the dry periods through drip irrigation.

However, these methods require capi-

tal that our smallholder armers cannot

aord.

Easing up labour demand. Organic

arming requires high labour input dur-

ing establishment. But with most rural

youths preerring jobs in the cities,

labour is hard to come by. Land cultiva-

tion could be much easier and aster with

portable hand tractors and other small

arm machines. But smallholder armers

cannot aord them. Credit and a orm o

machinery sharing can be explored. In

some cases however, the relatively more

intensive labour needed in organic arms

has actually created job opportunities

in the rural areas. Women have been

involved mostly in seedling produc-

tion, weeding, care and maintenance,harvesting, sorting, grading and selling.

Scaling up to meet growing demand.

The project initially linked armers

with an assembler company which

supplies organic vegetables to the

big Manila supermarkets. But armers

cannot meet the demand due to pro-

duction constraints mentioned above

and the growing demand within their

villages and towns. Farmers get bet-

ter prices and thus preer direct sale

in their towns to sending their veg-

etables to assemblers.

Another challenge is to make organic

products more aordable or common

people. Increasing the availability o

organic products will raise supply and

result in more aordable prices.

Linking smallholder farmers to export

markets. Increasing production volumeand value-adding is needed or small-

holder armer groups to join the export

market. There are some local NGOs in

Central and Northern Philippines which

have helped armer groups to export

organic raw sugar (muscovado), rice,

bananas and coconut products. Unless

they are processed, the export o highly

perishable products like organic vegeta-

bles is a big challenge.

Need for research and development.

Many organic arming technologies

being practised and promoted lack a

sound scientifc basis. Research should

document and evaluate claims they are

based on and also lead to the discovery

o new products, methods or processes

useul or organic arming. Currently,

the Philippine National Standard (PNS)

or Organic Fertilizers as well as the

PNS or Organic Agriculture are being

updated. Scientifc research results

will serve as a critical basis or the new

standards and policies.

Advocacy and information dissemi-

nation. NGOs and private citizens are

at the oreront o advocating organic

agriculture to the general public. The

primary and secondary schools aremandated in the Organic Agriculture

Act to include organic agriculture top-

ics in the school curricula. Also, agri-

cultural colleges and universities are

being encouraged to include organic

agriculture in their research, teach-

ing and extension activities. Recently,

the University o the Philippines Open

University (UPOU) and UPLB collab-

orated to oer the frst online non-

ormal certifcate course on organic

agriculture.

Review of existing agriculture pro-

grammes. At the national level, the

department o agriculture runs pro-

grammes or conventional and organic

arming. The aim is to provide options

or both types o armers. At the

feld level however, this has created

uncertainty among agricultural techni-

cians. Farmers are becoming conused

because the agriculture techniciansadvocating organic agriculture are

the same people distributing GMO

seeds, urea ertilisers and pesticide

samples.

For inormation on the UPOU/UPLB

certifcate course on organic arm-

ing, visit http://www2.upou.edu.ph/

academic-programs/non-formal-

courses/510--organic-agriculture

An overview o initiatives on organic

agriculture in the Philippines is avail-

able at: www.rural21.com

farming with conscience

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