12 companies going big into organic food production in Negros Island

By MELODY M. AGUIBA

March 17, 2011, 11:54pm

 MANILA, Philippines – A dozen companies and a total of 1,300 hectares in the Negros Island have obtained certification for organic farming which is making Negros island Philippines’ organic food capital.

The Negros Island Sustainable Agriculture and Devt. Foundation Inc. (NISARD) has faciltated organic farming certification of these organic farms in a vision to make the island a totally-organic farming haven.

"Our vision is for the whole island to become an organic farming area with at least 100,000 hectares in five years," said NISARD President Edgardo S. Uychiat in an interview.

While not yet ready to export as its priority is to supply the island first and then its neighbors, Negros is already swarmed by traders. Its abidance by the organic certification standards as that of the International Federation of Oganic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) is attracting investment interest in its organic agriculture.

"We want Filipinos to first enjoy the good quality and reasonable price of organic food. Our farms are certified which means they are inspected using a protocol similar to the certification (harmonized with) IFOAM in other countries. Some people go to us because they want to export our products, but we're not yet ready," he said.

Uychiat said during the National Academy of Science and Technology's (NAST) organic agriculture forum that the Negros Island is now in the thick of expanding its organic area with an organic livestock program focused mainly on sheep and goats. The livestock program will also become a source of animal manure, a major component of organic fertilizer. Its availability is a major factor to organic agriculture's success.

"Because of the Organic law, the DA (Department of AGriculture) has a P900 million fund for organic farming. We don't know the procedure yet, but we're talking to them," he said.

NISRD data show that organic rice can yield a high seven metric tons (MT) per hectare at a lower production cost of P25,000. This is compared to non-organic's 6.3 MT yield at a higher cost of P32,000. Organic vegetable also generated a higher annual sales of P332,000 from a 1.3 hectare land that grew rice and vegetable. This was several times more than the rice monocrop using conventional system that gave only P72,000 sales from a similar 1.3 hectare area.

Organic sugarcane produced a comparable 60 MT per hectare at a lower cost of P30,000. The non-organic sugarcane produced a higher 65 MT, but with a higher cost too of P45,000.

Beneficiaries of its organic food program are small farmers through non government organizations (NGO) and people's organizations (PO). The island already has several organic food brands. These are the Rainforest Mt. Kanlaoon premium coffee (Arabica) blend, Rainforest Negrense Robusta blend, Gourmet Spices and Specialties Light Muscovado, and FreshStart black rice, white rice, and brown rice.

NISARD aims to tap a portion of the 170,000 hectares of land being transfered to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) to be converted to organic farming. "Small farmers are looking at organic practices out of necessity as a result of ever increasing costs of conventional inputs," he said.

"To realize the expansion, NISARD is assisting farmers' groups through marketing and promotion of fair trade. The island has declared a No GMO (genetically modified organisms) policy to ensure the propagation of purely organic farming. Negros also discourages monocropping which is known to exhaust nutrients in the soil.

Source: Manila Bulletin