Villar: Pass bill allowing cheaper organic certification
Saying more Filipinos should be able to afford healthy and safe organic products, Sen. Cynthia Villar urged her colleagues in the Senate to pass the bill that will provide for a more affordable system of organic certification. Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, sponsored Senate Bill No. 2203 under Committee Report No. 625, which amends Republic Act 10068 or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010. The Organic Agriculture Act requires the certification of organic farms of small farmers by a third-party certifier to facilitate labeling and marketing of products to markets. However, farmers find the cost of third party certification with the tag price ranging from P42,000 to 150,000 per crop, valid for only one year, to be exorbitant. “The high cost of certification creates a very big barrier for small farmers to overcome preventing them to participate, which ultimately hurts the growth and development of the organic movement,” Villar said. 1 7T...