The Department of Agriculture (DA) has launched the first phase of its Organic FIELDS Support Program (OFSP Phase I) which adopts a three-pronged strategy to steer the local agricultural industry to organic farming.

Organic farming cuts the dependence on chemical pesticides and fertilizers as it uses agricultural waste, compost and crop rotation to increase soil productivity.
 
In a memorandum of agreement with Go Organic! Movement, a campaign startedby local people’s organizations (PO) in August 2008, the DA allotted P20 million for the initial stage of OFSP which would be implemented in Albay, Bataan, Camarines Sur, Nueva Ecija, Oriental Mindoro and Pangasinan from November 2008-March 2009.

“Going  into  organic  agriculture  has  obvious  and proven ecological and health  benefits  as well as long-term impacts on productivity and farmers’ income.  This  is  definitely  a breakthrough undertaking by the DA,” Efren Moncupa, lead convenor of Go Organic! said.

The MOA was signed in the wake of recent announcements from DA Sec. Arthur Yap that the fertilizer subsidy program could be scrapped in 2009 to beef up resources for organic farming.

The government allotted P37.8 million to subsidize fertilizers for farmers all over the country this year. In the program, farmers are entitled to P500-worth or two bags of fertilizers from the agricultural department, and four more bags from their respective local government units.

However, the project has been slammed as a tool of corruption following allegations that former DA Sec. Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante channeled P728 million-worth of fertilizer funds to the campaign kitty of administration senatorial candidates in 2004.

Abolish subsidy

Yap said that the abolition of the fertilizer subsidy program would increase resource leverage for organic fertilizer production in 2009 for farmers planting palay on 400,000 hectares of farmlands nationwide.

Sabyte Lacson-Paguio, Go Organic! Movement media relations coordinator, told Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that Go Organic! first sat down with the agriculture czar in June 2008 to discuss the program. She added that skyrocketing fertilizer prices initially prompted DA to consider the switch.

Fertilizer prices have increased to P1,200 in 2007 to P2,000 in 2008. With six bags of fertilizer needed for a hectare, a farmer would have to shoulder P12,000-worth of fertilizer expenses.

But  the  call  to  switch to organic farming has become more urgent in the face  of  climate change as the Philippines is considered a vulnerable spot for  the  phenomenon’s  effects,  which include massive flooding, sea-level rise and drought.

“Climate  change  is  real.  This  warrants  an urgent shift to sustainable practices.  The  shift  to organic farming is the best intervention towards sustainability,” Isagani Serrano, PRRM acting president, explained.

Tripartite mechanism

Under the OFSP Phase I, the Philippine Reconstruction Rural Movement (PRRM) would train 600 farmers on systems and technologies for sustainable agriculture, which include organic fertilizer production, biological pest management and planting methods compatible with organic farming.

Scientists and experts from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños would also spearhead local research and development initiatives.

However, the key part of the program is the creation of a tripartite mechanism which sources support from the LGUs, POs, and local DA for the promotion of organic farming.

“The important point in this program is that the LGUs would push local farmers to adopt organic farming,” Paguio said.