SunStar
+ February 01, 2021 GUAGUA Mayor Dante Torres is optimistic that the current free time accorded to many by the ongoing quarantine restrictions and work-from-home schemes could be used to promote urban gardening instead of the commercialized decorative and rare plant propagation that impacts on rare plant species.
He said there should be a gradual shift to urban gardening specifically the production of vegetables and plans for personal food consumption.
Torres said that such effort will greatly help in ensuring stable food source for families amid the pandemic and promote healthy lifestyle. We have been actively distributing seeds and plants to our urban dwellers and rural folk to help in this program. The free time afforded by this pandemic could be used to create a different mindset and promote sustainable home-based farming, the mayor added.
Philippines: Government intensifies soil rejuvenation program
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will intensify its soil rejuvenation program nationwide to sustain the increased productivity of rice, corn, vegetables, coconut, fruits, and other major crops.
“One of our continuing major challenges is how to increase productivity and reduce the cost of production. And as soil is the foundation of agriculture, we must protect, preserve, and nurture it to sustainably produce adequate, affordable, and nutritious food for all Filipino families,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
“We, therefore, instructed all our commodity banner program directors to make soil rejuvenation as the basic foundation of their productivity strategies,” said Secretary Dar, underscoring that “from healthy soils, come bountiful crops.”
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January 12, 2021 | 2:04 pm Font Size
Sen. Cynthia Villar leads harvesting of “Patola” at the Villar Sipag Farm School
Senator Cynthia Villar expressed gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte who signed into law Republic Act (RA) 11511 last December 23, a measure that seeks to strengthen organic agriculture in the Philippines. The legislative measure was principally authored and sponsored by Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food.
RA 11511amends RA 10068 or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 and puts in place a more affordable and accessible system of certifying organic products, the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). This is an alternative to third-party certification, which ranges from PhP100,000 to PhP120,000 per crop compared to only between PhP600 to PhP2,000 under the new PGS.
Press Release
Villar commends the passage of amended Organic Agriculture Act of 2020
Senator Cynthia Villar expressed gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte as he has signed into law a measure seeking to strengthen organic agriculture in the Philippines. Republic Act (RA) 11511, an amendment to RA 10068 or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, was signed on December 23 last year,released on Tuesday January 5, 2021, and will take effect 15 days following its publication.
Villar, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, and the principal sponsor of the law said; Itwill provide for a more affordable system of organic certification, which will allow small farmers to benefit from producing organic products. She reiterates that, The most important feature of this law is that, it will allow small farmers to get certification at P600 to P2000 per year, as against the international certificate of P100,000 per year.