Organic farming advocates are asking incoming President Noynoy Aquino to use a big chunk of the P3.5-billion fund of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice program to promote organic farming and develop the production of natural fertilizer nationwide.

Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) and a co-convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said Aquino and the new chief of the Deparment of Agriculture (DA) must use the P500 million intended for the promotion and development of organic fertilizers in the 2010 national budget to sustain the gains of the Organic Fields Support Program (OFSP).

The money represents approximately 1.27 percent of the total new appropriations for the DA for 2010.

“An important program such as the promotion of organic farming which promotes sustainable agriculture through environment-friendly ways of producing food on our table deserves a bigger share from the DA’s budget,” Cabigas said.

The first phase of OFSP, which aims to promote organic farming in the Philippines, was implemented by Go Organic! Philippines. Through OFSP1, a total of 600 farmers went under season-long training on organic farming, from production of organic fertilizer, to application in various organic farm sites in six towns and cities in Luzon. The group is now pushing for the implementation of the second phase of the program.

According to Cabigas, the budget should be used to promote organic faming, by funding programs geared towards research and development, training, extension, promotion and marketing support.

Cabigas said one way of teaching farmers how to go organic is through season-long training during which farmers are trained how to make their own organic fertilizer using raw materials that can be easily found in their farms, apply them in their own farm, and in the end impart their knowledge to other farmers.

He also said that since each area is unique, he said research and development should be conducted to determine what organic farming system and technology is best applied in a particular area.

The DA, he said, should work to strengthen the agricultural production systems and livelihoods of the resource-poor farmers to address food and nutrition security problems using organic agriculture framework.

It should also improve the efficiency and sustainability in the production, processing and marketing of key agricultural commodities to provide options and provide local communities with site-specific solutions to food and nutrition insecurity due to climate change, globalization and environmental degradation, he said.