BACOLOD City – One of the country’s top organic farmers, who hailed from Negros Occidental, was pushing for a better government support for the organic agriculture sector.
“We hope for more government interventions and incentives to organic agriculture practitioners,” Jesus Antonio Orbida said last week.
Orbida hoped Negros Occidental – the outstanding province in organic agriculture in Western Visayas – would have a “perfect vision” for its organic agriculture programs.
Orbida was one of the three finalists in this year’s National Organic Agriculture Achievers Award in small farmer (individual) category.
He runs a PeacePond, a farm and fish production area of about five hectares, in Barangay Enclaro, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental.
Orbida also received a trophy from Department of Agriculture undersecretary Evelyn Laviña as part of the National Organic Agriculture Congress in Alfonso, Cavite last week and was named one of the 2019 Outstanding Negrosanons for organic farming of the provincial government on Nov. 5.
Negros Occidental has about 16,000 hectares of agricultural land devoted to organic farming, with almost 17,000 organic adaptors.
However, the mandated area devoted to organic farming in the province is 20,000 hectares, which is five percent of almost 400,000 hectares of agricultural land.
The five percent was provided under Republic Act 10060, or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010.(With a report from PNA/PN)
