Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 11511)
The State policy is to promote, propagate, develop, and implement organic agriculture in the Philippines to enrich soil fertility, increase farm productivity and farmers' incomes, reduce environmental pollution, conserve natural resources, protect health, save on imported farm inputs, and promote food self-sufficiency.
An OCB is a legal entity accredited by a government agency to perform inspection and certification activities to verify that a product labeled as 'organic' complies with relevant guidelines under the Act.
PGS is a locally-focused quality assurance system developed and practiced by people engaged in organic agriculture, built on trust, social networks, and knowledge exchange, used to certify producers as actual practitioners of organic agriculture.
Those utilizing not more than five (5) hectares of land for agriculture, aquaculture, or poultry/livestock with specific limits on animals such as 1,000 poultry layers, 10 sows, 10 fatteners cattle, 50 heads of goats/sheep, as defined by the National Organic Agriculture Board.
BAFS is empowered to formulate and update organic agriculture standards, issue accreditation to OCBs, conduct inspections on PGS groups compliance, register organic inputs and farms, and handle appeals related to inspection and certification.
Small farmer representatives must be chosen from crop and livestock sectors, actively practice and promote organic agriculture from at least the provincial level, and be conversant with organic agriculture policies and programs.
A person shall be punished with imprisonment from one month to six months, a fine of up to Fifty thousand pesos, or both; officials of corporations and government employees face additional penalties including dismissal from office.
A core PGS group must have at least five members from different farms within the municipality/city or province who are certified and practicing organic agriculture.
They are eligible for a full government subsidy for one year of international organic certification and free prime location in government-sponsored trade and marketing events, provided their products are exported and compliance maintained.
Participatory organic certificates are issued by accredited core PGS groups, national organizations of LGUs, or private groups accredited as OCBs. Decisions can be appealed to the BAFS, which must rule on the appeal within 30 days or the decision is reversed.