posted by ANGELINE VALENCIA | September 13, 2009

Poising to propel development, Bohol’s agenda on chemical-free farming elaborated in the Provincial Organic Agriculture Framework and Program (POAFP) dubbed as the Green Life program will have the debut tomorrow, paving the way to food security and sufficiency provincewide.

Governor Erico Aumentado, who chairs the Provincial Stakeholder Committee (PSC) of the Focus Community Assistance Scheme (FOCUS)-Bohol, will lead tomorrow’s launching ceremony of the Green Life Program at the MetroCentre Hotel.

The program was already referred to the Provincial Board Committee on Agriculture for legislative action and, when approved, will be implemented under the Office of the Provincial Agriculture with regular annual allocation from the provincial government.

“Green Life program, once adopted and approved by the provincial officials, will definitely propel the development and adoption of organic agriculture in the entire province because a regular annual budgetary allocation will be provided thus, paving the way to realize our thrust of food security and sufficiency for the Boholanos and provide them with a healthy, nutritious and chemical-free food,” Aumentado explained.

The program heads towards making Bohol as a major producer of organic agriculture products by 2015 with the entrepreneurial farming communities on the lead.

Also in his pronouncement, the governor said “Going Organic has become imperative for us to prolong life and mitigate global warming”.

He said the Green Life program is the provincial government’s response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order 481, calling for the promotion and development of organic agriculture in the Philippines.

In fact, Aumentado had also issued Executive Order 27 on December 29, 2003, creating the Provincial Working Group on Bohol Organic Standards (PWG-BOS) that formulated Bohol’s organic agriculture code which resulted to the setting up of the Green Life Program as an output also after several consultations and workshops involving concerned government agencies, partner LGUs, non-government organizations and people's organizations.

The consultations and workshops were organized by Philippines-Australia Community Assistance Program (PACAP)-assisted AdVANCE-PROFarmS Project implemented by the Bohol Initiators for Sustainable Agriculture and Development (BISAD), an alliance of organic agriculture advocates and practitioners.

Through the program, the provincial government aims to convert at least 10 percent of prime agricultural lands to organic farms by 2015; organically produce for at least five percent of local meat, eggs and inland fisheries consumption in the province; establish a provincial marketing network exclusively for raw and processed organic products; and institutionalize provincial organic certification systems based on tested farmer-led internal quality control mechanism.

The signing of the commitment of support by the provincial stakeholders will highlight the launching ceremony tomorrow.

ATI-7 center director and Focas 3 Management Council (F3MC) chair, Dr. Carolyn May Daquio, will give the rationale, then Provincial PACAP Officer May Blanco will give the overview of FOCAs in Bohol.

FOCAS 3 Secretariat Coordinator-CASEC Inc. Nilo Ampon takes charge of presenting the milestone accomplishments of FOCAS 3 PROFarms Projects.

Also in tomorrow’s activity, Pakisama Regional Coordinator and technical officer to Green Life Program Isidore Ancog will give a presentation on Green Life or the POAFP.

OIC-Provincial Agriculture Officer Larry Pamugas will present the EO.

Aumentado will present the response from the executive branch of the provincial government after inducting the Bohol Organic Agriculture Management Council (BOAMC) members.

Vice-Governor Julius Caesar Herrera will give the response from the legislative branch.

To give the impressions from municipal local government units and project partners will be Alicia Mayor Pedro Miasco, Dagohoy Mayor Germiniano Relampagos, Sagbayan Mayor Jimmy Torrefranca, and San Isidro Apolinar Gumanid.