National Organic Agriculture Program 2011 & 2012 Narrative Report Republic Act 10068, also known as the

Organic Act of 2010, is part of the green policy document of the Aquino Administration. Through the initiative of the then Quezon Province Representative, now DAs Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, Senate Bill 3264 and House Bill 466 were signed in April 2010. This led to the creation of the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB) in August 2011 which serves as its policy-making body. The Department of Agriculture is the lead agency in the promotion and implementation of the NOAP. Members of the Board, which included the Sec. of the DA, DILG, DAR, DENR, DepEd, DOH, DTI, DOST; Civil Society Organizations NGO, Agribusiness, academe, farmers representatives from Luzon, Visayas & Mindanao, had their oath-taking and the 1st NOAB meeting immediately after the ceremony. After a national consultation early this year, the NOAB approved the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP) which serves as the first direction in the implementation of the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 and its guidelines. The Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 aims to promote, propagate, develop further and implement the practice of organic agriculture in the Philippines that will cumulatively condition and enrich the fertility of the soil, increase farm productivity, reduce pollution and destruction of the environment, prevent the depletion of natural resources, further protect the health of farmers, consumers and the general public, and save on imported farm inputs. Towards this end, a comprehensive program for the promotion of community-based organic fertilizers such as compost, pesticides and other farm inputs, together with a nationwide educational and promotional campaign for the use and processing, as well as the adoption of organic agricultural system as a viable alternative shall be undertaken. Ultimately, it supports the central role of the farmers, indigenous people and other stakeholders at the grassroots of the program. To date, the NOAB ha approved four (4) policies. To wit: Guidelines on the Evaluation and Approval of Organic Agriculture Proposals Guidelines for the Establishment of Trading Posts Guidelines for the Selection of Organic Demo and Training Farms Implementing Rules and Regulations on the Accreditation of Private Organic Agriculture Extension Service Providers (OA ESPs). Regulation of the Incentive Scheme for Organic Certification The NOAB also works hand-in-hand with the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards (BAFPS) which serves as the National Administrative and Technical Secretariat of the Board. RA 10068, the NOAP and the administrative orders are the pillars and guide in utilizing the Organic Agriculture funds of through the different implementing agencies (DA-AMAS, ATI, BAFPS, BAR, BFAR, BSWM) and the RFUs. In 2013, BAI, BAS, BPI & PhilMECH will become part of the NOAP implementation.

The Agribusiness Marketing and Assistance Service (AMAS) provides support to domestic trade fairs and exhibits such as Agraryo, Buy Pinoy Exporters Fair, and the Philippine Travel MartI as well as international events like the Philippine Food Expo, World Food Expo and the 1st International Organic Marketing Conference held with the Agri-Aqua-Foodlink of 2012). Through Administrative Order No. 2 Series of 2012 on the Regulation of the Incentive Subsidy Scheme for Organic Certification, AMAS provides 3rd party certification subsidy to certified farms. At present, 3rd party certified establishments include Pecuaria Development Cooperative, Inc. (PDCI), CHEMREZ Technologies, Inc., Gold East-Asia Mall Corporation, Bios Dynamis Multipurpose Cooperative, Leonie Agri Corp., Mt. Kanla-on Organic Coffee Producers Association, Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc., Mambugsay Essential Oil Producers Association, and Fresh Start General Merchandizing. The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) serves as the front liner in Agriculture Extension. ATI regularly conducts the National Training on Organic Agriculture and Internal Control System for focal persons from the Regional Training Centers, International Training Center for Pig Husbandry, and DARFUs. ATI has also launched a social contribution project complementary to organic agriculture as a mitigation strategy on climate change. In 2011, the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) has approved 49 organic agriculture projects under the Production-Related Research and Development program. Five (5) of which is on Seed System and forty-four 44 on Applied Research. Currently, it has funded 13 proposals for the establishment and improvement of organic R&D facilities. The Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards (BAFPS) has accredited two (2) Certifying Bodies (CB), namely, Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP) and the Negros Island Certification Services (NICERT). As part of its mandate, BAFPS has developed & promulgated the Philippine National Standards on Organic Agriculture on crops, livestock, processing, special products and labeling and consumer information, organic milled rice, fertilizer and aquaculture. In November this year, BAFPS conducted the 9th National Organic Agriculture Congress in Cebu City which was attended by more than 1, 700 participants from the all over the country. In support to the program, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), in coordination with BAFPS, was tasked to establish a benchmark data on organic agriculture. And, as an initial step in developing this information, the BAS conducted the Organic Agriculture Baseline Survey (OABS). In support to the activity, the NICERT Certification Guarantee Officer took the initiative to endorse the survey to the enterprises certified by their organization. The Establishment of Expanded Modified Rapid Composting Production Farms is one of the programs pursued by BSWM to promote the use of organic fertilizer in farming. The project aims to improve the soil and reduce input cost; hence, improving the farmers income. The fertilizer produced also provides extra income for farmers by selling surplus organic fertilizers to other farmers. In 2011,

around 6,900 hectares of agricultural farms has been supported under this program. The BSWM is also conducting assessment of regional soils laboratories for recommendation to the NOAB for upgrading & improvement which is part of the Organic Agriculture Public Investment Program. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) oversees the conduct of research on Organic Bangus Culture in Pagbilao, Quezon as well as the Organic Polyculture of Milkfish and Mudcrab (Alimango), and Organic Pennaus monodon (black tiger shrimp) grow-out trial in Pangasinan. It also conducts the Training on Organic Aquaculture its national centers LGU personnel and technicians, provincial fishery officers, municipal agriculturists and technicians. RFU 1 has provided production support to 70 LGUs, benefitting 286 farmers of organic ricebased, vegetable at native chicken production. Currently, there are four (4) organic composting sites established and 4 provincial Local Technical Committees (LTCs) created comprising of 105 municipal LTCs. Among the approved project proposals is the Honeybeekeeping in Support to Organic Agriculture and the demo-training farm in Pangasinan. RFU CAR has installed the Internal Control System for Coffee Arabica Growers. CAR produces organic vegetables and rootcrops of which a large volume is being consumed locally within the region while the rest are brought to Metro Manila, Tarlac, Pampanga and other provinces. RFU 2 already has more than 700 hectares (ha.) agricultural lands under the organic agriculture system with more than 900 farmers; 500 ha. for rice, 25 ha. for organic fertilizer, 30 ha. for soybean, and the rest on integrated at diversified farms. It also has 6 ha. of OPV corn, sweet potato and rice production maintained. The region has conducted 48 trainings with 2,880 participants and hands-on trainings for adaptors of techno-demo on vegetable production at the Isabela Provincial Police Command and Isabela Provincial Commission on Audit. To date, it supports 3 cooperatives in the registration of input products and application for certification with OCCP. RFU 3 has organized 6 provincial LTCs & supports 2340 farmers. Three (3) demo-farms were established and eleven (11) project proposals supported. RFU 4A, on the otherhand, has established six (6) demo-farms and 4 provincial LTCs. RFU 5 has almost 108 ha. agricultural lands in conversion to organic. Seed support distribution (rice, corn, vegetables, pineapple suckers) has been given to 131 farmers and 43 farmer groups. In the regions marketing initiatives, market related events have been launched generating 36MT various organic produce amounting to Php80,000.00 and closed four (4) marketing agreements with a volume 4MT amounting to Php16,000.00. There have been a total of 200 male and 110 female beneficiaries of training (Mga Natural na Pataba, Matagumpay na Paghahalaman, Paggawa ng Kompos, at Paggawa ng Vermicompost )on Organic Agrciulture at Vermicomposting . Currently, the region supports three (3) demo-farms.

RFU 6 has conducted organizational meetings for 17 municipal LTCs in Capiz. It was also able provide support in the the Visayas-wide Awareness Conference of the Local Chief Executives as well as the Implementation Workshop for OA Projects in Guimaras, Western Visayas for potential NGOs, POs and cooperatives. Working on having the upland areas of Panay Island as part of the Regional Organic Agriculture Development Roadmap of the region RFU 7 has established 26 techno-demo farms for rice and corn farms in Cebu, swine, chicken, vegetable rice and corn in Negros Oriental & Siquijor, and on utilization of crop residues into organic fertilizer and organic duck egg production in Bohol. Two (2) organic seed banks and thirty (30) community-based organic fertilizer facilities were also established. As part of the organic agriculture promotional campaign, RFU 7 has conducted 4 info-caravan, 5 field days, 3 consumer awareness activities, 2 Rice FFS (Farmer Field School), 28 trainings on organic certification and technology, processing of organic inputs and food, and topics on business planning. The region hosted the conduct of the 9th National Organic Agriculture Congress on 03-07 November, 2012 held in Cebu City. RFU 8 has organized five (5) Provincial LTCs in Southern Leyte, Samar, Eastern and Northern Samar, and Biliran with ten (10) Municipal LTCs. The region promoted organic agriculture by conducting four (4) University on Air, two (2) radio plugs, and distributed 3000 organic IEC materials. Trainings on the production of natural of farm inputs were also conducted, attended by a total of eighty (80) participants. Currently, the region supports four (4) vermicomposting facilities with 300 beneficiaries for the soil sampling analysis. RFU 10 conducted soil compost analysis in support to production of organic fertilizers with 150 samples analyzed. The region was able to distribute 24,000 packets of Compost Fungus Activator (CFA) for the Trichoderma production project. It has established four (4) demo-farms to date. RFU 11 has established four (4) demo-farms and passed five (5) ordinances on Organic Agriculture in Davao City, Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte. It has established seven (7) demo-farms approved from the 26 project proposals evaluated by the TWG of RFU 11. RFU 12 has established 12 techno-demo farms with 12 project proposals being reviewed. South Cotabato Provincial Nursery will be be used as an organic fertilizer production plant. A field exposure for LTC in Koronadal City has also been conducted. In the Caraga, two 2 techno-demo farms for NGO (1 for Agus-Pinoy and 1 for Kalambuan Foundation) have been established and 47 LTCs created. Currently, there are 33 LGUs/Pos beneficiaries of the 500 kilos of African Night Crawlers while the seed support distribution system has benefitted 658 farmers on rice, corn and vegetables. Fifty (50) MOA on bio-fertilizer plants and vermicomposting facilities are being processed.