FOUR local chief executives in Pangasinan vowed to institutionalize funding in support of the shift to sustainable organic and ecological food production model in the province.
Alaminos Mayor City Hernani A. Braganza, Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro Burgos Mayor Alberto Guiang and Dasol Mayor Noel Nacar vowed to ask local legislators in their respective city and municipalities to integrate funds for organic farming in the annual investment plan for 2012 .
Alaminos, Bani, Burgos and Dasol are project partners in the Organikong Palayan – Pangasinan of the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Unit 1 being implemented by the La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga).
Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga lauded the four local chief executives in taking the lead in promoting sustainable organic and ecological agriculture in their respective localities, noting that the failed promises of the prevailing agricultural model that is heavily dependent on agro-chemicals necessitates such commitment and support.
“Crucial to all these initiatives to promote organic farming is the need to integrate funding support in the annual investment plans of individual LGUs,” he said.
Organikong Palayan – Pangasinan is consistent with the food staple sufficiency goals of the DA and Pres. Benigno Simeon C. Aquino’s Agri-Pinoy program, Cabigas said.
In Alaminos City, Braganza, said organic farming has always been a part of the city’s investment priorities. He said organic farming offers a solution to the woes of resource-poor farmers whose income is limited by the skyrocketing cost of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides.
“Slowly, more and more farmers are realizing the need to shift to a more environmentally-sound food production practice and model,” he added.
Sustainable organic and ecological agriculture is consistent with the city’s 10-point agenda to boost the city’s tourism industry, which is anchored on protecting the environment and natural resources. Alaminos is home to the Hundred Island National Park (HINP).
The same way, Navarro said going organic supports his vision of making Bani a model “Green City” by 2020.
For his part, Guiang said farmers in Burgos will greatly benefit through the season-long training component of the project, wherein organic fertilizer production forms an important part of.
“Learning how to produce their own organic fertilizer will help farmers become less dependent and more self-reliant,” he stressed.
Nacar, who is now president of the League of Mayors in Pangasinan pointed out that Dasol, whose salt industry is largely dependent on its pristine waters, requires the limited application of chemical fertilizers so as to prevent pollution, apart from making food staple production economically viable.
He urged Pangasinan’s local chief executives to initiate similar programs as a way of offering farmers alternative ways of doing business in agriculture that is safer to both food producers and consumers, and friendly to the environment.
The four Pangasinan mayors recently signed a memorandum of agreement with La Liga’s managing director expressing their commitment and support to the project. La Liga, for its part, will also provide counterpart fund for the implementation of the project.
It will be recalled that DA Secretary Proceso J. Alcala and DA Region 1 Regional Executive Director Renato A. Maguigad last week led the launching of Organikong Palayan – Pangasinan” as part of the strategy of attaining food and staple sufficiency within the term of Pres. Aquino.
The program takes off from the various “organic” initiatives of the participating LGUs with the hope of encouraging more farmers to go organic.
A total of 280 farmers will also undergo season-long training on organic farming of rice in eight learning farms, two learning farms for each of the project areas, to be put up for the purpose.
La Liga, which is aggressively promoting organic farming in the Philippines, said Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, Republic Act 10068 recognizes the urgency of shifting to a sustainable organic and ecological agriculture model, to increase rice production and productivity, boost farmers’ income, promote better health for farmers and consumers and increase soil fertility by arresting the degradation of the environment.
