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[av_heading heading=’Local farmers’ org cited in Top 5 PH social enterprises ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY: ROEYNA MAY FAMISARAN
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Joby Arandela (right) of Zarraga Integrated Diversified Organic Farmers Association (ZIDOFA) with Department of Agriculture secretary Manny Piñol during the turnover ceremony for a hand tractor unit with implements worth P130,000 to their group. ZIDOFA is into organic black rice production and it supplies rice to several restaurants and establishments in Iloilo City.
PHOTO FROM JOBY ARANDELA
Zarraga Integrated Diversified Organic Farmers Association (ZIDOFA) exhibited at Central Philippine University during the DA-CPU Organic Agri Fair on Nov. 21.
ILOILO City – An organization of farmers in Zarraga town, Iloilo was recently declared as one of the Top five social enterprises nationwide by the BPI Sinag Accelerate 2017.
The Zarraga Integrated Diversified Organic Farmers Association (ZIDOFA) is a group of farmers that promotes the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a management strategy for crop improvement that allows farmers to use less seeds and water, giving them great returns from their capital.
“ZIDOFA and the rest of the organic farmers are happy to share this recognition, especially that our vision to become a reputable producer of quality and globally-competitive organic agriculture and aquaculture products is now coming into fruition,” said Joby Arandela, co-founder and chairman of ZIDOFA.
As part of BPI Sinag Accelerate’s financial aid to the winners, ZIDOFA will receive P500,000. According to Arandela, the money will be used to “augment the farmers’ funds to buy palay for the upcoming planting season.”
WHAT IS SRI?
“The System of Rice Intensification, a low-tech approach, is a method or rice cultivation which uses 50 percent less water and 90 percent less seeds yet it allows the farmers the capability to produce even more than [they] did with conventional chemical rice farming,” Arandela said.
SRI, now utilized by more than 5 million farmers worldwide, has won global recognition for being climate-friendly.
“This is because it utilizes intermittent irrigation which takes away the usual practice of flooding rice paddies for long periods of time. This causes aerobic conditions in the soil which reduces the emission of greenhouse gas methane,” Arandela noted.
The ZIDOFA chief furthermore explained that SRI relies more on agronomic factors to provide optimum conditions for the rice plants to show their true potential to thrive.
“Continued practice of organic SRI on rice paddies restore soil biodiversity and fertility which results in higher yields without the dependence on chemicals and synthetic fertilizers,” Arandela added.
ZIDOFA is an organization dedicated to “create a closed-loop organic food value chain which covers the whole spectrum of activities in the chain.” It helps small-farmers who are interested in converting some of their land to organic farm areas undergo series of trainings and seminars. ZIDOFA’s assistance continues until post-harvest drying and milling, packaging and marketing./PN
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