PinoyEcoFarmer

The Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP) is the official certification body for organic products in the Philippines. The Department of Agriculture has accredited OCCP as the first certifying agency for organic agricultural products in the country.

Certification is defined as a system by which the conformity of products, services, practices, etc. to applicable standards is determined and confirmed. This confirmation can be done either by:

• The first party – the supplier
• The second party – the customer, or
• The third party – an independent body

Certification is the procedure by which an independent third party gives written assurance that a clearly identified production or processing system or methodically assessed and conforms to specified requirements/ standards.

Certification of organic agriculture combines certification of products and quality systems, but it is primarily certification of a production system or method. All operation in the product chain, including farmers, processors and distributors, must be certified as acting in conformity with the standards and regulations of the certification program.

More

We found this old book (The Green Consumer by John Elkington et al) at Booksale in SM Dasmarinas while scanning their shelves. The book was published back in 1990 (more than 18 years ago) but I noticed that most of what is written are still applicable today.  We still face the same concerns and the book has been reminding us that “we can buy products that don’t cost the earth.” More

Internet has surely revolutionized a lot of things. One of the many advantages it brought is that it has eased the access to information and collaboration among like-minded individuals. As farmers we can also take advantage of the internet. The information is just there for learning and discussion . It is just up to us to discern what would be the best practice that will most benefit  us and the environment.

These are some of the local groups that I recommend:

1.  Natural Farming in the Philippines

(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/natural_farming_philippines/);

Worldwide, the growing demand for safe, pesticide-free and naturally-farmed products trigger interest on natural and organic farming. Still considered as a budding sector in Philippine agriculture, nonetheless, organic food production belongs to the top ten priority sectors for revenue development in the Philippines (DTI, 2006). Thus, the Executive Order 481 aims to “promote agriculture development, conserve environmental resources and promote social equity and product access to foreign and domestic markets.”

More

Our trip to the University of the Philippines Los Banos  (UPLB) to attend the Centennial Celebrations gave a me a chance to meet two ladies who are into organic products. Melda Pantua of Herb Republic (which I wrote about in “A Herb Republic Rises”) and Adelfa M. Nuestro of Delfa’s Organic Products. Aling Delfa sells a variety of organic products including instant ginger tea (a personal favorite), peanut butter (creamy and chunky varieties), Tsokolate Alfonso (tablea de cacao), cafe barako/ coffee alamid, Luyang Dilaw Tea (turmeric), assorted pastillas, ube/ coco/ coco-pili / pineapple jams and black ground pepper.

More

We chanced upon this small stall in the Student Union (SU) Building at the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) when we went there to join the Centennial Celebrations. The Herb Republic booth sells herbs and vegetables which they harvest directly from their small farm in a nearby baranggay. Their slogan is “From Seed to Table”.

More

One of my advocacies is the use of environment-friendly household essentials. The use of these products will definitely help prevent the pollution of our soils and water sources which are essential to good farming and to our health in general. We have been using products like these in our household whenever possible. Products like these are relatively more expensive but I want to view it as something that is less costly in “real” terms because it is safer to us and the environment. Unfortunately, most groceries do not carry these type of products or maybe I was not looking hard enough.

More

Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro water and ponos labour) is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool using mineral wool.

The farm (only about a thousand square meters) is located before the rotonda (left side going to Tagaytay) just a few meters after the road going to the Pink Sisters Chapel. It is on the right side going to Silang from the rotonda. The greenhouse is at the backside of the Brudrick Marion School. They do not use pesticides, fungicides and other harmful chemical in growing their vegetables.

More