Region’s first Organic Chamber faces challenges ahead

The Regional Organic Agriculture Chamber (ROAC) faces great challenges ahead.

This was revealed by Director Angel Enriquez, Regional Executive Director of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional field Office 7 , during the first Regional Organic Agriculture Chamber assembly recently held at a hotel in Mandaue City, Cebu. Director Enriquez , encouraged the group to finalize the roadmap on organic agriculture to guide the OA stakeholders in preparation of future challenges.

Director Angel C. Enriquez challenged the more than 70 farmers and practitioners in the region to achieve the national target.

Citing the importance of the roadmap , Enriquez said that it will help the DA measure its accomplishments.

Posing a challenge to the group is the national target to convert five percent of the total agricultural land area for organic agriculture by 2016 . Of the more than 500,000 hectares of agricultural land in Central Visayas, five percent of it would mean around 26,000 hectares. Currently, only around 3,000 hectares are devoted to organic farming, making the region short of about 23,000 hectares more to achieve the national target.

Marisa Tuazon, ROAC member from Bohol, threw a challenge to keep the supply of organic rice in Bohol. She said the province has a current feeding program which utilizes organic products such as rice, but are at times short of the demand. She added that a steady supply of organic rice is likewise a challenge to their province which maybe remedied by other provinces.

A ROAC member from Siaton, cited the rapid conversion of organic lands to sugarlands and gemelina plantation, which he sees as an obstacle in the implementation of the organic agriculture goal in his municipality.

According to Wilberto Castillo, DA’s organic agriculture (OA), alternate focal person, aggravating the situation is the threat of climate change and the conversion of agricultural lands to residential and commercial purposes. However, despite the challenges, the region has its strengths which may become springboards to a successful implementation of the OA program.

Castillo added that five percent of farmers are now adopting organic agriculture and more farmers are found to be receptive to organic farming which may help in the attainment of the target.

In Bohol, ten percent of the farmer population are trained on organic farming and are supported by the local government units . Based on provincial record, five percent of the consumers prefer organically-grown commodities. Speeding up the progress of organic consumerism in Bohol, is the establishment of an internal guarantee system which assures the market of organic products sold in a trading center .

Government ,non-government organizations and rural organizations are actively advocating for organic farming, among these are the ten third-party certified organic farms in the region, which may well be good indicators of a bright future of the organic agriculture in the region , Castillo said. (Anna Delza S. Barimbao)