rogel marzan1

Practitioners of organic
farming set monitoring

By Noel Victa
Correspondent
dec. 25, 2006

PRACTITIONERS of organic farming are policing their own ranks from possible dishonest practices that might destroy the future of this booming industry.

Farmers engaged in organic agriculture have set internal quality-control mechanisms to ensure that products delivered to the markets are really grown free from artificial or chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a group based in Northern Luzon said.

According to Felix Tan, a member of the La Trinidad Organic Practitioners (LaTOP), the group has established a monitoring initiative to guarantee that its members are producing organic crops.

“We conduct monthly inspection to check if our members are the ones who produced the vegetables that are delivered to organic stalls at the public market,” said Tan, adding that the mechanism would guard the group from unscrupulous farmers who claim to produce organic crops even though they use chemicals.

Among the internal control measures done is the registration of crops that each member would plant, the quantity of expected yield and the probable date that these would be harvested.

Rogel Marzan, also a member of the LaTOP, said each member is expected to comply with the Philippine National Standards on organic agriculture.

Members should meet at least the minimum required standard for organic farming, including the proper mixture of organic fertilizers, Marzan said.

The group also encourages its members to go beyond the basic requirement of organic agriculture.

Tan said the organization has set its own standards to encourage members to further improve their farming practices.

“Members who engage in enhanced organic farming are given recognition. The group ranks his farm as either two-star or five-star farm, depending on his farming practices, Tan said, adding there are already two farms that were ranked five-stars—the Cosmic Farm, owned by Marzan and the Master’s Garden.

Meanwhile, advocates of organic agriculture have scheduled their second regional organic congress at the Benguet State University next year to further promote organic farming.