Intensifying its campaign for sustainable agriculture, several Local Government Units (LGUs) signed a declaration Wednesday supporting a government initiative to convert 10% of the country’s rice fields into organic farming sites by 2010.

Go Organic! Philippines, a consortium of non-government organizations and organic farming advocates, pledged its support to the Department of Agriculture’s Organic FIELDS Support Program Phase I (OPFSI) project, an agricultural strategy to convert the country’s farming practices from chemical to organic methods.

Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga, a member of Go Organic!, said that the organic farming project would help boost the economic slump and help the country achieve its rice self-sufficiency targets.

“Agriculture should be the driver of economic growth. And investment in agriculture should be treated as an investment in real economy,” said Cabigas.

He explained that aside from health and environmental benefits, organic farming would provide more income to farmers because organic fertilizer would be cheaper than chemical ones, and organic produce are priced higher in the market. He also cited several studies showing that chemical farming contributes to the death of farmland.

In line with the campaign, Go Organic!, in cooperation with the DA, has established several “learning farms” in seven municipalities, where a hectare of agricultural land is devoted to training about 600 farmers nationwide, or roughly 100 farmers in each of the towns, on the organic farming techniques.

These learning farms were established in several towns in Pangasinan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro Occidental, Camarines, and Albay.

Meanwhile, organic farming trends are also picking up in areas like Negros, Ifugao, and Rizal.

Cabigas also said that the government will be establishing a memorandum of agreement, compelling local government units to devote bigger land areas to organic farming and training facilities.

Cabigas added that land distribution and land ownership policies, such as those in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), is only the first step in addressing agricultural problems.

“More important, there has to be a government initiative to teach methods of organic farming,” he said.