LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Three-term boardmember Robert Namoro underscored the importance of an ordinance that institutionalises organic agriculture in the province and provides funds for the same to ensure its immediate roll out.
Boardmember Namoro, the principal author of the ordinance, stated that it is the advocacy, policy and commitment of the provincial government to promote the practice of organic agriculture towards safe food production and improved quality of life through the empowerment of organic agriculture practitioners to actively participate in the development of sustainable and environment-friendly organic agriculture industry in the pursuit of the protection of the health of consumers, farmers and the environment; expand the practice of organic farming in the province; educate stakeholders on the principles of sustainable organic farming; establish and develop markets for organic products; establish and support research and development centers for the purpose; encourage and support production of organic fertilizers, organic feeds, probiotics and additives, botanicals and biological control agents; environmental protection; disaster risk reduction and resilience to climate change and better farm income and sustainable livelihood.
Ordinance No. 18-23 shall apply to the promotion and development of organic agriculture and agricultural biodiversity conservation; research, development and extension of appropriate sustainable environment and gender-friendly organic agriculture; local policy formulation and regulation, accreditation, certificate and labelling on organic agriculture; local initiatives on research, development and innovation of appropriate organic agriculture and agricultural biodiversity protection; promotion and encouragement of establishment of facilities, equipment and processing plants that would accelerate the production and commercialization of organic fertilizers, botanicals, biological control agents and other appropriate farm inputs and implementation of organic agriculture programs, projects and activities.
The ordinance shall cover the science-based production, post-harvest and marketing of all agricultural commodities from livestock or poultry and its by-products, fisheries, grains, edible naturally grown products to be processed, but shall only be categorically considered organic when there are interventions and that the same shall be focused on crop production, livestock and poultry raising, aqua-culture, apiculture, production of organic farm inputs and forest products.
The ordinance stipulated that the initiative of civil society organizations in promoting organic agriculture will be recognized and the provincial government shall continue to encourage and support the participation of the private sector in the implementation, promotion and development of organic agriculture starting from farm production, marketing and consumption.
The provincial government is mandated to establish the necessary mechanism that will provide assistance to existing and prospective organic input producers and organic farmers in securing access to government or private credit facilities or lending institutions.
Under the ordinance, any person, whether natural or juridical, who will violate the pertinent provisions of the measure or obstructs the implementation of the same shall upon conviction, be penalized by imprisonment of not less than one month or more than one year or a fine of not more than P5,000 or both at the discretion of the court. If the offender is a corporation or juridical entity, the officer who ordered or allowed the commission of the offense shall be penalized with the same penalty.
The ordinance authorized the appropriation of some P4 million annually under the Office of the Provincial Agriculture Office and the Provincial Veterinary Office or in the amount of P2 million each for the implementation of the said program. By HENT
