The Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center-Cordillera Administrative Region (ATI-RTC-CAR) conducted a Coaching and Mentoring activity to the Kapangan Organic Practitioners’ Association (KOPA) on June 16-18, 2025, at Kapangan, Benguet.
The coaching activity is an offshoot of the comprehensive surveillance and audit conducted by the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS), Department of Agriculture’s Regional Field Office (DA-RFO) and the ATI-CAR to KOPA last June 3-5, which brought some non-compliance issues and areas requiring further attention.
The coaching activity was designed to focus on the development of a Correction and Corrective Action Plan (CCAP) to guide KOPA in resolving the identified issues and ensuring future compliance with the relevant agricultural standards.
Mr. Edwin Dicksen, the Organic Focal Point Person, said that the coaching and mentoring session dwelt on the Philippine National Standards (PNS) for organic agriculture, with a specific focus on the PNS for Swine Production and PNS for Ruminants. These topics were of particular relevance to KOPA’s operations and provided important insights on how the group could better align its practices and continued compliance of the group with the Accreditation Requirements and the Participatory Organic Certification Scheme (Guidelines for the Operations of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) group as Organic Certifying Bodies).
The technical assistance provided by ATI was instrumental in helping KOPA address the non-compliance issues, improve the competence of its internal committees, and align its practices with national agricultural standards. This collaborative effort between the BAFS, DA-RFO, ATI, and KOPA is expected to lead to enhanced compliance and improved operations within the organization.//with report from Mr. Edwin Dicksen, Organic Agriculture, Focal Person.
