Changing lives for the better

MANILA, Philippines – Government technocrat-turned organic farmer, Pablito Villegas of the Villegas Organic and Hobby Farms in Malvar, Batangas, is using every means to push forward his advocacy of organic farming to liberate the world from adverse climate change.

Using his three-hectare completely organic farm as a learning institute, Villegas has been inviting students from exclusive schools to take a look at organic farming and how their lives and lifestyles could be changed for the better, including even reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

He has invited so far the exclusive schools of Batangas and Laguna for actual farm exposure and he plans to work out with the exclusive schools of Metro Manila, namely Ateneo, La Salle, Miriam and even the International School to expose the rich kids to the organic way of life and open their eyes to the healthy lifestyle of going organic.

Villegas told The STAR that traditional farming methods using heavy toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides release nitrites into the atmosphere, which are very harmful to all life forms, including humans.

He said chemical fertilizers and pesticides have been releasing nitrous oxide (coming from urea) in the air which is 300 times deadlier than carbon dioxide. Furthermore, farmers must keep increasing the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to improve their yields. In turn, the soil becomes poisoned and acidic, Villegas said.

He said his experience as consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization based in Nigeria, Namibia, Kenya in Africa and even Tonga and Papua New Guinea has enriched his appreciation for organic farming and the ability of these countries to raise productivity through completely natural farming methods.

Soon after his stints with FAO, Villegas adopted his lessons on organic farming in the Philippines under then Agriculture Secretary Salvador Escudero III with the balanced fertilizer program (in modules of 10 to 50 hectares) being implemented by the Bureau of Soils Management under then Director Roger Concepcion.

Unfortunately, the organic farming program did not get the funding it needed from government, thus interest faded steadily.

The good news is that the organic farming lifestyle has been gaining impetus worldwide, particularly in the European Union, specifically Italy and Japan in the early 21st century with organic markets expanding faster than production.

Locally, most of the high-end restaurants have been looking at local organic producers because demand for natural foods has kept pace with worldwide trends, Villegas said.

He said he supplies restaurants like Napoli Pizzeria, Iceberg, Restaurant of Choices and Chocolate Kiss in UP Diliman and the Rustan’s group with his farm products.

In recent months, he has also been actively pushing for the establishment of satellite organic farms around his nucleus (core) farm in Batangas as a model for NUSOFAC (or nucleus and satellite organic clusters) to be funded by DA. He has a pending funding proposal of P4.9 million with the DA high value commercial crops and another P3 million with the Bureau of Post-harvest and Research Extension.

NUSOFAC will be the venue for transferring the technology of organic farming, which Villegas views more as a public commodity that needs to be funded by government.