Axelum advocates organic farming

MANILA, Philippines — Organic farming has been gaining ground around the world due to the many benefits it brings both to the environment and to the farmers.

Integrated coconut products manufacturer Axelum Resources Corp. is among the few that have actively advocated and practiced organic farming.

The company’s organic farm sits on a 10-hectare land located in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental and has been operational for over a decade.

The farm is manned by the Holy Family Farm Workers Association (HFFWA) – a group of farmers trained and supported by Axelum – and produces a variety of organic fruits and vegetable crops such as purple yam (ube), lettuce, cabbage, sweet potato, tomato, among others.

Axelum equips farmers with “starter kits” composed of assorted seedlings, container pots and other basic planting tools and purchases the harvested crops directly from the farmers to provide an additional source of livelihood to them.

Axelum and the HFFWA were recently recognized by the Department of Agriculture as the Most Outstanding Farmer’s Group Regional Organic Agriculture Achiever for 2019.

Along with its organic agriculture initiatives, Axelum is also targeting to establish an organic store, a pesticide plant and a 50-bed medical facility in the province to further give back to the community.

In the 2006 study conducted by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, there are only an estimated 35,000 organic farms in the Philippines with a cumulative area of 14,140 hectares, or 0.12 percent of the country’s total agricultural land.

But with the signing of Republic Act 10068, also known as the Philippine Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, more companies have shifted to organic farming.

Data from the National Organic Agriculture Program, an agency affiliated with the Department of Agriculture, showed that total organic agriculture area hit 349,041 hectares, or about 4.86 percent of the country’s total agricultural area from 2011 to 2017.