Agriculture.ph Blog

NGOs urge govt to promote organic farming

ALARMED by the poor performance of the agriculture sector, a consortium of nongovernment organizations promoting organic farming in the Philippines urged the government to implement programs that will help increase food production to mitigate hunger and help fight poverty in the countryside.

Aside from the different support services that the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Agrarian Reform normally provide to farmers to help boost agricultural production, Efren Moncupa, a lawyer and lead convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said government programs that offer a lasting solution to farmers’ woes should be prioritized.

In particular, he said the DA should promote sustainable agriculture through organic farming, which does not only promote sustainable agriculture, but helps fight global warming and climate change.

To start with, organic farming does not require big capital, said Moncupa, a former agrarian-reform undersecretary.  It actually helps reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, he said.  GHG is a major contributor to global warming.  Agriculture contributes 30 percent to the total GHG emitted into the atmosphere.

According to Moncupa, organic farming is key to sustainable agriculture, as it helps farmers veer away from the excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

Organic farming makes use of indigenous materials that can be found in farms to produce plant-growth boosters which farmers can use in lieu of the expensive chemical fertilizers currently utilized in conventional farming.

Moncupa expressed alarm over reports that the agriculture sector grew by a slower rate of 2.02 percent in the first quarter and that the trend will unlikely improve because of a number of factors, among them climate change.

The government has forecast agriculture production will rise 4 percent this year, nearly the same pace as last year’s when output rose 3.9 percent.

“The government needs to address this food-security concern as soon as possible. If the agriculture sector continues with its poor performance, the Philippines is facing yet another serious food crisis,” Moncupa said.

Climate change, which has triggered supertyphoons, severe flooding and even drought, adversely affects agricultural production as natural calamities destroy hundreds of hectares of farms, thereby resulting in huge losses on the part of farmers.

Abrupt change in weather patterns as a result of climate change makes it more difficult for farmers when to plant or harvest their crops, thereby adversely affecting farm-production output.

Aside from climate change, Moncupa blamed the agriculture sector’s poor performance to the high cost of doing business in farms. Fertilizer prices, he said, remain high and farmers barely have enough money for their families’ three square meals a day.

Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga Policy Institute and a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said government programs should be geared toward building the individual and collective capacities of farmers to produce organic fertilizers and eventually, shift to organic farming.

He said more farmers are willing to learn how to produce and use their own organic fertilizer, realizing the many benefits of going organic.

Aside from an increase in the farmers’ income, organic farming also promotes better health and safer environment for all.

“The DA should continue to implement its programs to train more farmers on various organic-farming systems and technologies,” he said.

Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga

Source: Business Mirror