The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) remains the leading region nationwide regarding Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and the organic way of producing semi-temperate vegetables.
Coinciding with observing the “Farmers and Fisherfolk” month, Department of Agriculture-Cordillera (DA-CAR) Regional Executive Director Atty. Jennilyn Dawayan recognized during the Kapihan held at DA-CAR, the continuing efforts of Cordillera farmers in adapting good agriculture practices that ensure consumer safety.
“We are number one in the country particularly Tublay, Benguet that is PGS certified, we have a new guideline on the Participatory Guarantee System where this is a second-party accreditation system, among themselves they will certify that their products are PGS certified. While it does not go through third-party certification, at least on the parameters that are set forth under the law, they are still complying and it still has the semblance of the safety practices that they undergo under the accreditation process,” Dawayan said
Based on the 2024 data of DA-CAR, there are 35 organic farmers in the region with Tublay, Benguet having 10 individual farmers. Atok, Itogon, La Trinidad, Benguet, Mountain Province, and Lamut-Ifugao have 5 PGS certified organic farmers each. CAR has the highest number of PGS-certified farms and PGS-accredited Official Certifying Body or OCB covering 10.96 hectares.
Esther Caga, coordinator for the Organic Participatory Guarantee System La Trinidad (OPGSLT) lauded DA-CAR for the continuing support the department provides to the organic farmers in their area.
“We have received many interventions from the government, we have written the Department of Agriculture for them to continue to provide intervention for our organically grown farm products which we continue to receive. We are happy that our Local Government Unit has passed an ordinance giving us a place to sell our products which is supported by the community, and through the support of the DA, we are also the second PGS certified Organic farming association in the country,” Caga stated.
Aside from organic farmers, the region also leads in the number of farmers applying the method of Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) nationwide with 454 individual farmers and 1 group certified.
There are 1,555 active certificates for GAP nationwide with CAR having the most certificates at 29.20 percent. ** JTLlanes