TAGBILARAN CITY, BOHOL. The presence of Certified Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) Groups in the organic certification process holds significant importance especially for budding organic farmers on a budget.

PGS involves farmers and local stakeholders in the certification process, fostering community-led verification. This not only builds trust but also ensures that the certification reflects the agricultural practices of the community.

PGS is often more accessible to smallholder farmers who may face challenges in complying with the high costs and stringent requirements of conventional certification. This inclusivity promotes the participation of a diverse range of farmers in organic practices.

With this, the Agricultural Training Institute – Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) VII conducted a Training of Certified PGS Towards Accreditation as Organic Certifying Bodies (Batch 2) held at ATI-RTC 7 Training Complex, Cabawan District, this city on August 7-11, 2023.

Twenty (20) trained participants from Bohol will conduct and serve as resource persons to the training for certified groups on PGS towards accreditation as Organic Certified Board (OCB).

“I learned several things here: Development of Manual of Operations, Acquaint with the Guidelines for the accreditation of Core PGS Group and Operations as OCB, Alignment of Internal Standard of the PGS Group, General Protocols and principles of peer review and certification, accreditation of Core PGS Groups as OCB and Auditing Protocols. I’m really happy to be part of this training. I learned so much and will bring this to my workplace. Since the farm is certified as organic, the learnings on conducting peer review and accreditation. Also, the records, maintaining/updating of records is my objective here. Looking forward to apply all I encountered and imparted by our trainers for a progressive group and individual farms,” shared Lindon Bagares from Egay’s Integrated Farm.