The Department of Agriculture- Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) together with the DA-Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) and the Office of Senator Cynthia Villar, Chairperson, Committee on Agriculture and Environment in the Senate conducted a ceremonial turnover of technology package on Composting Facility for Biodegradable Wastes (CFBW) at the DA-CAR Old Conference Hall recently.
The provision of CFBW to farmers’ associations and cooperatives (FCAs), local governments, academe and civil society organizations is in line with the priority thrust of the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP) and complements and supports DA plans and programs to increase crop productivity through sustainable agriculture.
Further, it is also in support of the RA 9003 or the Philippine Ecological Solid Waste Management Act which was enacted and declared as a state policy for the use of environmentally-sound methods that maximizes the utilization of valuable resources and encourages resource conservation and recovery.
Among the recipients of the intervention were FCAs from the municipalities of Buguias, Kapangan, Mankayan, and the DA-Bureau of Plant Industry, the Labayan Farmers Association, I-Kapangan Farmer Entrepreneurs Organization, Manpat-a Farmers Association, and the Baguio National Crop Research Development and Production Support Center.
Thirty-five CFBW units with a total value of around 34M will be distributed to various FCAs in the six provinces of CAR.
Bernardo B. Pascua, Chief of the Agricultural Land Management and Evaluation Division, BSWM, said that for the year 2022-2023, a total of 1,161 units will be distributed nationwide. He shared that this intervention is very important in managing wastes through appropriate methods of sorting, collecting and composting.
Further, Senator Villar, in a recorded message, shared that healthy soil is the foundation in ensuring food security in our country. “It is important that we take care of our soil so that we can have a fruitful harvest and so that we can attain food security and prevent malnutrition in the country. Since we have a lot of biodegradable waste in our environment, I thought about making it meaningful. So there must be facilities close to our farms, trading posts, and markets. We also have biodegradable waste in our residential areas, we just need to collect it and convert it into organic fertilizer or compost that our farmers can use, especially now that fertilizers are expensive and sometimes there is no fertilizer to buy for our farms,” she said.
Meanwhile, DA-CAR Regional Executive Director Cameron P. Odsey assured that these facilities will be properly used and that the region will continue to support this project. “We assure you that this will be used properly and that the regional office will support this project. This will lessen the dependence of our Cordilleran farmers on commercial fertilizers and at the same time promote healthy soils by producing compost fertilizers,” Odsey stated.
Ariel Arenas, BSWM OAP Focal Person, Ruby Ann Matotino, staff from the Office of Senator Villar, RTD for Operations Danilo P. Daguio, RTD for Research and Regulations Atty. Jennilyn M. Dawayan, HVCDP Focal Person Joan D. Bacbac, Field Operations Division Chief Virginia A. Tapat, Buguias municipal agriculturist Delfin Rufino, and Kapangan municipal agriculturist Peter Begawen, Jr., were also present during the activity. By LDMendoza
