Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Farmers and advocates gathered on Sunday (July 12) at the Quezon City Memorial Circle for the Organic Food Festival.
Those who attended said organic products are much better than those grown unnaturally.
“They don’t cause sickness,” organic farmer Kris Valdez said. “Back in the day, illnesses like diabetes and high blood weren’t so common, but now, people who have them are getting younger and younger. That’s because the food we eat are laden with chemicals.”
Farmers noted that they could earn more by growing food organically.
“My net income’s higher because we don’t use chemical fertilizers,” said Chito Medina, owner of Masipag Rice.
And contrary to popular belief, organic farming is not complicated.
“It’s very easy because all the materials are free. You won’t need to shell out more for fertilizers,” said Dorris Lee, owner of Secret Garden of Dorris.
Among the products featured at the festival were vegetables, fruits, organic snacks, rice, herbal medicine, and natural fertilizer.
Although many farmers are presented with various challenges such as lack of capital and expensive certification, a study by the Ibon Foundation revealed that organic farming would pave the way to food security in the country.
“There’s this impression that organic products are expensive because there are certifiers involved. We want the farmers themselves to certify (the products),” said Ibon Foundation’s Rosario Bella Uzman.
Organic farmers, the group said, would also need the government’s support.
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, on the other hand, said that organic farming would also be viable in highly urbanized places.
She added indigent families would benefit most from growing various produce in their backyards. Not only would they have a stable source of their own food, but they could also make a living out of it.
“They write us a letter, we examine their land, and if they’re sincere and we see that they desire it, we give them farming implements, soil, and even seminars,” Belmonte said.
And this is the reason why Belmonte has been seeking to pass a bill that will turn idle lands into plantations.
