Orlando L. Maddela, Jr. January 11, 1951 – April 24, 2009 He may have lost his battle, but he fought till he breathed his last. That may be said of Ka Orly Maddela who for the past two years had struggled to win over his health problems. While his condition confined him to a hospital [...]
Members of the Go Organic! Movement applauded the Department of Agriculture (DA) for concretizing its commitment to sustainable agriculture, in the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between DA and the Go Organic! Movement for the Phase 1 of Organic FIELDS Support Program (OFSP) held yesterday.
“Going into organic agriculture has obvious and proven ecological and health benefits as well as long-term impacts to productivity and farmers’ income. This is definitely a breakthrough undertaking by the DA,” said Atty. Efren Moncupa, lead convenor of Go Organic!.
For the first time, progressive groups, environmentalists, local government units and the academe have joined forces to promote organic farming to help solve the country’s food crisis.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza of Pangasina announced the involvement of the Paragos-Pilipinas, the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), Centro Saka, Inc., La Liga Policy Institute, SRI-Pilipinas, Education for Life Foundation, University of the Philippines-Las Baños, Philippine Greens, Earth Day Network and Malasimbu Farmers’ Cooperative as well as actress Chin-Chin Guiterrez and pop music artist Joey Ayala as endorsers to mount an advocacy to propagate organic food rather than conventional food.
Practitioners can now celebrate its earlier advocacies that organic agriculture is sustainable. With the changing climate, organic farms have proven to be more resilient towards erratic weather patterns. Diversity, as among its core features allows farmers to generate sustained income from several farm enterprises. Compared to a monocrop farm, a highly diverse farm would always have alternative enterprises whenever one crop fails. Having a far richer soil and stable genetic materials, organic farms can survive in climates of abnormally hot or wet conditions.
PRRM President Conrado S. Navarro was recently elected as trustee of the Association of Foundations (AF) during its 36th General Assembly held at The Linden Suites, Ortigas Center, Pasig City, last April 24-25, 2008.
Out of the twenty nominees, a total of eight (8) new trustees were elected by the AF General Assembly. Aside from Prez Ding, the new AF trustees are the following: Connie S. Angeles of SM Foundation; Dominica B. Chua of Ramon Aboitiz Foundation; Fr. Manuel R. Guazon of Pondong Batangan Community Foundation; Teddy M. Kingsu of Angelo King Foundation; Ma. Carmen A. Sarmiento of PAL Foundation; Edith Y. Villanueva of the Sugar Industry Foundation; and Ma. Rosario R. Lopez of the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation.
Good Governance for Sustainable Development
PRRM Contributions to the Substance and Process of Philippine Development