Aiming to increase the number of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)-certified farmers and accredited organic farms in the MIMAROPA region, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) in MIMAROPA, through the Organic Agriculture Program (OAP), conducted the Training on Certified PGS Group Towards Accreditation as Organic Certifying Body (OCB) on April 21–25, 2025, at ATI-MIMAROPA, Barcenaga, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
Two PGS groups in Oriental Mindoro, namely, Mina de Oro and SALIKA Agriculture Cooperative were capacitated in improving their draft manuals of operations and internal standards, especially with the implementation of newly approved Philippine National Standards (PNS) relevant to OA. They were also guided through the accreditation procedures, including the peer-review and certification process under PGS.
Serving as resource persons were Mr. Jomel S. Pasia and Ms. Nikiann G. Mapalo, Agriculturist I from the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office MIMAROPA. They discussed the certification and accreditation processes toward becoming an OCB and provided valuable feedback and recommendations to improve the groups’ internal standards and manuals during the workshop sessions.
During the action planning, both groups identified specific activities to prepare for accreditation. The Provincial Agriculture Office of Oriental Mindoro also expressed support in finalizing the required documents for submission to the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) as a prerequisite for SALIKA’s inspection. Meanwhile, Mina de Oro PGS Group confirmed their compliance with the findings from their recent inspection and scheduled corrective actions accordingly.
The training was attended by 24 participants, including farmers and agricultural extension workers.
