Organic farming budget cheered

Private think tank La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) welcomed the government’s commitment to allocate 2 percent of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) annual budget for organic farming programs and urged its “timely” release.

La Liga managing director Roland Cabigas said in a statement, “This policy pronouncement and marching order from no less than President Aquino himself should signal the start of the shift to environment-friendly food production practices, wherein food self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability are given equal importance.”

Given that Malacañang’s proposed budget for the DA for 2012 is P53.7 billion, 2 percent of that will ensure a funding of at least P1 billion, exclusively for the promotion of organic agriculture programs in the country, Cabigas said.

Cabigas was reacting to President Aquino’s speech at the 8th National Organic Agriculture Conference in Tarlac on Tuesday, wherein he directed Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala to ensure compliance to Republic Act No. 10068 (Organic Agriculture Act of 2010) and its implementing rules and regulations.

Cabigas said that aside from information and training campaigns, the DA should target the conversion of at least 400,000 hectares of agricultural land, or 10 percent of agricultural lands devoted to rice production, into organic farm sites in the next five years.

This can be done by providing direct support to organic farmers and local government units (LGUs) that promote organic farming, Cabigas said.

Part of the budget should support academic research and development work on organic farming “best practices,” Cabigas added.

Likewise, Cabigas said that the DA should assist trading and marketing of organically produced food and by-products to increase the country’s share in the global organic food market.

La Liga has been pushing for a P1-billion budget for organic farming.

The think tank said it was among the citizens’ groups tapped by the DA to craft the law’s implementing rules and regulations, which mandate the allocation of at least 2 percent of the DA’s budget for programs that promote organic agriculture in the Philippines.

Cabigas, a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said that with President Aquino’s marching order to the DA, Alcala will be more determined to promote organic farming in the country.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has said that organic agriculture has the potential to increase farm productivity.

La Liga, a development policy research and advocacy non-government organization, is aggressively promoting the shift to sustainable organic and ecological agricultural models in the Philippines.

The group is currently implementing the Organikong Palayan-Pangasinan in partnership with the DA Regional Field Unit 1 and four LGUs in Pangasinan, namely Alaminos City, and the towns of Bani, Burgos and Dasol.