PH Farmers’ Revolt, 2 – Why BBM And The Department Of Agriculture Should Much Finance New And Existing Organic Groups To Improve Both Farmer Lives & Climate!

Organic Agriculture/Farming is not unknown in the Philippines. So, BBM Sir, you could have your P20/kg rice by your government subsidizing organic farming in all islands of our country! Science is on your side here: It’s much cheaper & healthier. “Science with a farmer’s face” (to borrow from ex-Secretary of Agriculture William Dar).

(BBM image from maharlika.news)

I was browsing the blogsite “Nature And Farming” by Farmer’s Place – I thought it was a credible source of information on organic farming; it said:

Organic agriculture does not permit the use of synthetic chemicals to produce plant and animal products, relying instead on the management of soil organic matter… and biological processes. In some parts of the world, farms must be inspected and certified before their food products can be sold as organic, indicating that no synthetic chemicals were used in producing them.

Correct! But I found this sentence following the above in the exact same paragraph: “[Conservation Agriculture] does allow farmers to apply synthetic chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides.”

Conservation farming with chemicals?! No Sir!

The title of that article is “Conservation Agriculture In The Philippines” (24 March 2015, Nature And Farming, blogspot.com, my source of above image.)

That does it! “Conservation Agriculture” is not for me no matter the pleasant-sounding name! This version of Agriculture cannot help us fight Climate Change!

The blogger “Farmer’s Place” does not state where in the Philippines it is coming from – anyway, goodbye! (But thanks for the image above.)

There is much hope! We go now to a certain place in the Philippines that knows what conservation agriculture should be.

That place to visit in the Philippines? Negros Occidental. I am now reading the article by Benedicto  Sanchez quoting himself in his column “Nature Speaks” – “Sanchez: Organic Agriculture Program Of Negros Occidental” (13 July 2022, SunStar, sunstar.com.ph). He has had intellectually productive encounters with upland farmers and indigenous peoples in Negros Occidental and other places in the Philippines.

Mr Sanchez says:

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, organic agriculture is an effective strategy for mitigating climate change by building robust soils that are better adapted to extreme weather conditions associated with climate change.

There are accomplishments of the organic agriculture program of Negros Occidental – I select only 3:

* Conversion of almost 15,000 hectares of land to organic agriculture

* Established laboratory production centers for biological agents in five of the six targeted villages

* Increased farmers’ average production and income by 25 to 30 percent through provision of inputs and hands-on training on different organic farming technologies.

Concluding, Mr Sanchez says, “Negrense environmentalists can proudly raise their heads on ensuring safe and healthy foods thru organic agriculture and help[ing] mitigate climate change.”

If in each of the provinces in the Philippines an organic agriculture program were established and run as Mr Sanchez describes it, with government subsidies where necessary and/or desirable, the Philippines would be a tropical paradise indeed!@517