SANTA CRUZ, MARINDUQUE - As continued pursuit to promote, propagate and strengthen the organic agriculture in the region, the ATI MIMAROPA conducted a Training of Trainers on Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) on Identified PGS Group at Fun Island Regencia’s Hotel and Resort, Sta. Cruz, Marinduque on August 8 – 19, 2022.
The 10-day training aimed to capacitate the PGS Groups on the establishment and operations of PGS consistent with the organic agriculture standards and corresponding technical regulations and in preparation for their application for certification and accreditation.
As defined in the RA 11511, the PGS refers to a locally focused quality assurance system, which is developed and practiced by people actually engaged in organic agriculture. Built on a foundation of trust, social network and knowledge exchange, the system is used to certify producers and farmers as actual and active organic agriculture practitioners and serve as an alternative to third-party certification.
“The Provincial Government of Marinduque, especially the Provincial Agriculture Office and all local government units have a strong desire to implement agricultural and fisheries programs that will help advance the agriculture and fisheries sector in our province,” said Ms. Susan A. Uy, Assistant Provincial Agriculturist said during the opening program.
In the 10-day TOT, organic practitioners from the municipalities of Boac and Santa Cruz, Marinduque were taught of the following standard provisions: Organic Agriculture Act as amended by RA 11511, Philippine National Standard on Organic Agriculture and other relevant standards, Establishment and Operation of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), Accreditation of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) Groups as Organic Certifying Bodies and Peer Review and Certification Protocols. Representatives from ATI - MIMAROPA, DA – MIMAROPA and PGS Pilipinas served as resource speakers in the said training.
As part of their workshop, the participants drafted their Internal Standard on selected commodities, namely, organic vegetable production, organic animal production, organic crop production and organic aquaculture production. They also crafted their PGS Manual of Operations. The group also presented the same for comments and suggestions. Moreover, in preparation for their certification and accreditation, the participants visited the farms of their co-participants as well as conducted mock farm inspection or peer review activity at Minerva's Organic Farm located at Brgy. Buyabod, Santa Cruz, Marinduque. The said activity aimed to simulate peer review or farm inspection as part of Core PGS Group activity. Also, the two PGS Groups accomplished their re-entry plan which includes their next step for the application as Core PGS Group.
Meanwhile, in a message of Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. during the closing program which was delivered by Mr. Edilberto M. de Luna, Provincial Agriculturist, he congratulated the participants for their dedication and active participation who also seek sustainable and environment-friendly organic practice through PGS. He further said that with PGS, organic farmers will be able to get training and certification for their organic produce without incurring heavy costs. In this way and type of system, income of the farmers and fisher folk will increase and eventually decrease the hazardous threat in the environment.
“I hope that the participants in the past 10 days gained so much knowledge and skills that can be used to further strengthen the organic agriculture in our community. I also hope that you will become partners of the Provincial Government in the promotion and propagation of organic agriculture in the province,” Gov. Velasco expressed. He also committed the Provincial LGU’s full support in this endeavor.
Mr. de Luna likewise gave his inspirational message to the participants. He said that organic agriculture can provide a long-term solution to the problem especially with the increasing prices of farm inputs.
“We need to strengthen the promotion of organic agriculture; we need more people to engage in organic farming. But we need certification and traceability system to guarantee that the product is indeed organic. There must be an able certifying group equipped with competence and proper parameters to do certification and guarantee system. Hindi pwedeng hula-hula lamang. I know that it is difficult in the beginning but it’s just a matter of setting up a trend, setting up a practice until such practice will turn into culture. We want organic agriculture not just a practice but a culture among us,” Mr. de Luna shared.
At the end of the training, two (2) farmer groups are expected to be accredited by the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) as Core PGS Group. It was also agreed that the group, in strong partnership with ATI MIMAROPA and DA-MIMAROPA will comply all the necessary legal documents needed in their PGS group application.
A total of 22 participants graduated in the said training.
