| Sourced From |
MANILA, Philippines – The Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 will hasten the country’s shift to a low carbon development path.
This was the bold statement issued by Go Organic! Philippines, a network of natural farming advocates, during the opening of the 7th National Organic Agriculture Conference at the Queen Margaret Hotel in Lucena City.
The conference was organized by the Department of Agriculture (DA.)
Go Organic! Philippines said the release of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10068, as the law is otherwise known, will usher in a shift from chemical intensive to ecologically-sound food production practices.
The La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga), a development policy research and advocacy non-government organization (NGO), which acts as the secretariat of the Go Organic! Philippines, is supporting the initiative to promote organic farming in the country.
Currently, La Liga and Go Organic! Philippines are pushing for Congress to adopt the proposed IRR for RA 10068.
The final draft was signed by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala and was submitted last week to the agriculture committees of the Senate headed by Senator Francis Pangilinan and the House of Representatives under Batangas 4th District Rep. Mark Llandro Mendoza.
Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga and a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines said under Rule 2.2 of the IRR states that: “Organic agricultural systems, in its goal to reduce environmental pollution and ecosystem destruction and, prevent the depletion of natural resources, shall endeavor to promote the low carbon development path and its strategies.”
Meanwhile, Rule 5.1 states that the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB), through the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards (BAFPS), shall call upon all government agencies and instrumentalities, including the LGUs, academe, NGOs, Small Farmers Organizations (OSFO), Organic Farmers Organizations (OFOs), and RDE institutions, to submit their respective annual and long term Organic Agriculture plans taking into consideration climate change impact and mitigation, with emphasis on adaptation such as low carbon development path, disaster risk reduction and management, gender sensitive development, site specific ecosystem-based for consolidation and integration into a comprehensive National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP).
The NOAP formulated by said agencies shall observe the principle of bottom-up, multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation system.
On the other hand, Rule 13.2 states: “The adoption of organic agriculture through the implementation of NOAP projects and activities shall consider strategies to promote the low carbon development path.”
Low carbon development path is defined by the IRR as “growth that integrates positive impact on environment, minimizes if not eliminates green house gas emissions, taking into account long term sustainability.”
As part of its budget advocacy, La Liga is pushing for the country’s low carbon development through financing of specific climate change mitigation and adaptation measure.