Organic farmers meet in Cebu for congress

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu will be this year’s host for the 9th National Organic Congress, which will be held at the J Center Mall in Mandaue City from November 6-8.

Eduardo Alama, regional technical director of Department of Agriculture-7, said the event will gather around 1,500 organic agriculture practitioners and enthusiasts nationwide. The Congress is intended to promote organic agriculture movement, as well as market for organic products.

The congress will revolve around the theme, “Organic Agriculture: For Food Security and Business Opportunity.”

Expected to attend the opening ceremony are Senator Francis Pangilinan, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., DA secretary Proceso J. Alcala, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, DA-7 regional director Angel Enriquez and other government officials.

The plenary session will tackle on updates of the organic agriculture sector. A fellowship night will be sponsored by the Cebu Provincial Government  and a technical tour to natural farming showcases will be undertaken on the last day.

In an article published on its website, globalresearch.ca, the Center for Research on Globalization (CRG) cites Reynaldo L. Villareal of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) who defined organic agriculture as “farming which excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, growth regulators, livestock feed additives and genetically modified organisms.”

Villareal is NAST’s lead person on organic agriculture and a former professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

The center also cites Dr. Charito P. Medina of the National Coordinator of MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development) as saying that organic agriculture is one approach to reduce production cost for 75 percent of Filipino farmers who are poor.

Medina said that while chemical fertilizer is still needed, the process is too dependent on oil, requiring 1 ton of oil and 108 tons of water to make 1 ton of nitrogen to fertilize. — (FREEMAN)