The Philippines will propose to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in April the adoption of a regional organic standard in a bid to encourage trade of organically grown crops. The advocacy came as the Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) approved on February 12, 2012 the Asian Regional Organic Standard (AROS), a multinational, public-private initiative among 15 countries including the Philippines, a United Nations agency said in a statement on Saturday.

“The Philippines initiated to have the ASEAN approve the organic standard for adoption, since not all ASEAN members are part of the GOMA Asia Working Group that developed the standard,” Lara G. Vivas, Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards senior science research specialist, told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview.

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