The chief biotechnology adviser of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said the slow rate of adopting organic agriculture is pointing to the grim prospect of this farming system's ability to guarantee food security.

Dr. Saturnina Halos, chairperson of DA's Biotechnology Advisory Team (DA-BAT), stressed that even as organic agriculture was first broached in the 1920s, only 32.2 million hectares of farms had been devoted to it worldwide, with only 1.2 million people engaged in culturing various crops, making the productive system cater only to specialist markets.

This being the case, she said she finds it hard to believe that organic agriculture could contribute substantially to food security by increasing the output of rice, vegetables, fruits and even livestock to satisfy increasing demand nationwide.

DA earlier vowed to increase organic rice production areas to 400,000 hectares, about 10 percent of the aggregate size of farms devoted to conventional rice farming.

"The concept of organic agriculture has been developed by producers and interested individuals since the 1920s and was sustained by consumers through specialist markets. It is rooted in a social movement that emerged out of opposition to mainstream farming. In a way, organic farming is a public protest against the predominant way of farming based on chemical inputs. Presently, organic agriculture is promoted by private movements, governments and the Food and Agriculture Organization," she explained.

Halos said Codex guidelines specify how organic agriculture has to be carried out including necessary periods of conversion from conventional to organic farming and the conditions of acceptance of naturally grown plants as organic products.

The Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labeling, and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods, claims that "organic agriculture is one among the broad spectrum of methodologies which are supportive of the environment. Organic production systems are based on specific and precise standards of production which aim at achieving optimal agro-ecosystems which are socially, ecologically and economically sustainable."