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.

Certification is one way of ensuring that products claimed to be organic are actually produced according to organic farming principles. It is a way of protecting consumers, producers, and traders against the use of misleading or deceptive labels. It is also a marketing instrument enabling producers to access markets for organic products and obtain premium prices. It also creates transparency as information in certified producing organizations and their products is made public.

Here is the list of  locally certified farms by the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines as of September 2009.

These are the farms and their corresponding products which passed the organic certification standards of OCCP