At last, after a decade of persistent advocacy and lobbying, the small-scale organic farmers can now smile with pride and confidence with the passage of RA 11511 last December 23, amending the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 which forbids them to label their produce as ‘organic.’
The new law put more emphasis on Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), a more appropriate product certification system for the small-scale farmers which comprises 80% of the actual total practitioners of organic farming in the Philippines, whose rights are put at the periphery by the third-party certification system which has been more favorable for the past 10 years only to the big players and those having strong ties with government officials.
Agro-Eco Philippines is hopeful that with the passage of this law, the unaddressed problems of the organic farmers like processing, post-harvest facilities and handling, marketing, extensions and community-based trainings, use of locally-adapted seeds and technologies, among others, will be given with concrete and systematic supports now than it was in the previous years.
Please click this link to read the full copy of the law https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2020/12dec/20201223-RA-11511-RRD.pdf.
We’re happy but we will continue to be vigilant.
#AGILE
#Agroecology
#PGS
#RA11511
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