Aida Page shares on Facebook what ANN has written, “Participatory Guarantee System Kicks Off To Empower Small Organic Farmers And Fisherfolk[1]” (Author Not Named, 04 June 2021, DA.gov.ph). On that date, the Department of Agriculture (DA) launched the “Participatory Guarantee System (PGS),” which is the key feature of Republic Act (RA) 11511.
At the launching, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar said:
Made possible by the support of our legislators, RA 11511 opened opportunities for our small farmers… who want a sustainable and environment-friendly organic practice through PGS.
RA 11511 amends the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 (RA 10068). ANN says of the new law:
As defined in the new act, the PGS refers to a locally focused quality assurance system, which is developed and practiced by people actually engaged in organic agriculture.
Quality is assured by common consent and assent of actual organic practitioners.
Built on a foundation of trust, social network and knowledge exchange, the system is used to certify producers and farmers as actual and active organic agriculture practitioners and serve as an alternative to third-party certification.
Third-party certification is very expensive, from P42,000 to P150,000/crop[2] – meaning, a poor farmer has to be rich first to become rich!
The PGS will significantly reduce the cost of maintaining organic certification and actively involve our small farmers and fisherfolk with like-minded stakeholders and advocates of organic agriculture by maintaining the integrity of organic products available in the market.
The new system also directly contributes to the farm consolidation thrust of DA and will increase the local availability of certified organic products of small and medium farmers. Thus, large-scale organic producers could shift to export markets.
Mr Dar is looking at the national agricultural scene like this: With their farms consolidated, small-scale farmers can target the local consumers of organic produce, large-scale farmers the consumers in foreign markets.
During the launch, officials and representatives of the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP), Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS), Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and member agencies of the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB) also presented the Philippine Guaranteed Organic Mark for organic products (above image). With NOAP, BAFS, ATI, and NOAB involved, this makes PGS a national community-based policy.
Now, I want to emphasize why organic fertilizers are that important, nay necessary. Seipasasays (17 February 2016, “The Benefits Of 100% Organic Full Fertilizers,” Seipasa.com):
Organic fertilizers improve soil structure, help to retain nutrients, allow carbon fixation in the substrate, and enhance the ability of the crop to absorb water.
Those are 4 functions. From Kenya, Frontiers Sustainable Systems says that 4 farms, “over 4 years tested… a one-time application of organic fertilizers (found) yearly crop edible yields increased overall for maize, sorghum, and sweet potatoes.”
That one-time application for 4 years proves organic fertilizers grow healthy crops – for consumers’ healthy bodies and farmers’ healthy pockets.@517
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