TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol November 9, (PIA)—Either Bohol goes for organic agriculture or it does not.
Organic agriculture advocates in Bohol slam the local implementation of the organic farming here noting that officials are doing a chacha.
Bohol Island State University’s (BISU) Professor Jose Travero, a revered organic farming initiator and known pillar of the Bohol Initiators of Sustainable Agricultural Development (BISAD) bemoaned the current state of the local implementation of the organic farming and agriculture.
Himself into keeping an organic farm and mentoring one that produces Bohol’s only organic papaya from a farm in Sagbayan, Travero picks on Bohol’s forward and backward as to its stand on organic agriculture, thus chacha.
Travero and the members of BISAD, also said they are wondering why Bohol promotes sustainable agriculture through the use of organic agriculture and yet be blunt in promoting hybrid rice.
Moreover, former BISAD executive director Zenaida Darunday, who is a staunch supporter of the move to really make Bohol genetically modified organism free (GMO-free) also added that the introduction of hybrid rice necessitates inorganic fertilizer inputs.
Salvio Makinano, another organic agriculture promoter, pointed out that he was hopeful Bohol would be true to the promise of organic farming promotion after the provincial government put up an annual organic agriculture budget of P1 million under Gov. Erico Aumentado.
By the following years, Bohol allocated under Governor Edgar Chatto some P3 million annual organic agriculture budget, Makinano added.
But, what have we got to show on organic farming? he asked.
He said much of the budget allocated for organic farming is going to research, which he claimed is never a production accomplishment.
“We already have an organic farming technology, so there is no need to do much more research,” professor Travero noted.
“In fact, what is needed is not research but implementation of the technology,” Travero, who teaches and models sustainable agriculture at the province’s only state university divulged.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel, he said even as he, along with BISAD hopes Bohol leadership could finally decide what to do with the move that can slowly wean Bohol farm from the burdens of environmentally destructive chemical fertilizers. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
