Historical Profile of Organic Certification in the
Philippines
In the Philippines, initial activities towards the development of national certification program started in 1996 when the FOODWEB (an informal network formed by members of IFOAM from the Philippines who attended the 1995 IFOAM-Asia Conference in Seoul, Korea) drafted the “Philippine Basic Standards for Organic Agriculture and Processing”. The document, which was based on IFOAM Basic Standards, has undergone a series of sub-national (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) and national consultations and workshops.
In 2000, CITEM took the initiative to spearhead the establishment of the Organic Certification and Inspection Program to pursue the development of the organic sector for export. Key organic players from AVDF, OPTA, FOODWEB, MASIPAG, Rizal Dairy Farms, Herbana Farms, Gratia Plena, AGTALON and PDAP composed the Organic Technical Working Committee of the program. Later that year, at the IFOAM Scientific Conference in Bassel, Switzerland, the key players were able to negotiate consultancy support from the Swiss agencies FiBL and Bio.Inspecta for the development of local capabilities and setting up of systems for certification and inspection. FiBL is a Swiss research and training institute on biological agriculture, while Bio.Inspecta is an internationally recognized certifying agency. Hence, in December 2000, the first Orientation Training on Organic Certification and Inspection was conducted in Laguna by FiBL and Bio.Inspecta. FiBL and Bio.Inspecta also reviewed the Organic Certification Standards of the Philippines for harmonization with international standards.
In early 2001, a team of experts drafted the Manuals of Operation and Certification and Inspection. The drafts were reviewed during a workshop held in May 2001. During this workshop, the Basic Standards was renamed “Certification Standards of the Philippines” and the certification body was called “Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP)”. The manuals were presented and the OCCP was officially launched during the National Organic Agriculture Conference held last June 2001.
The revised version of the OCCP standards for organic agriculture and processing was approved by the General Membership of the OCCP, Inc. during the Special Assembly held at the Philippine Trade and Training Center, Pasay City last June 22, 2003.
An NGO named Alliance of Volunteers for Development Foundation (AVDF) has also set up a certifying body, called “Philippine Organic Guarantee Incorporated (POGI). AVDF claims to have the people's organizations of indigenous people as members, and it is also working with the IFOAM Basic Standards (Briones, 2000).
Recently, the Department of Agriculture has accredited OCCP as the sole certifying agency for organically agricultural products in the country (SAGA, Feb 2005). Until December 2004, OCCP has received 15 firm applications and has certified seven (7) producers/processors (Alleje, 2005).
Sources:
Alleje, Jacqueline. 2005. Status of Certification in the Philippines. In: Development Path of Organic Certification: Building Partnerships in Strengthening Organic Agriculture in the Philippines. Proceedings of workshop held April 7-8, 2005.
Briones, A. M. National Study: Philippines. In: Report of the Regional Workshop on “Exploring the Potential of Organic Agriculture for Rural Poverty Alleviation in Asia and the Pacific held November 26-29, 2001 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. http://www.unescap.org/rural/doc/OA/Philippines.PDF
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Philippine
Organic Agriculture Information Network
Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research
and Development (PCARRD)
©2006