Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Colting: How can a product be tagged 'organic' By Dr. Rogelio Colting R4D Corner
THE column last week focused on the Organic Agriculture program of the University. As a continuation, we will be sharing with you about the organically grown Arabica coffee in the university.
To start with, how does a product get certified as organic? Organic certification is done through a system of inspection and certification. It is the production system, which is being certified, not the product per se. In essence, certification is a guarantee system, which provides proof a certain product is produced following a set of standards of organic production practices. An organic label can then be tagged on a product as an indication that it was produced organically.
Certification is done by an authorized organization. In the Philippines, it is the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards (BAFPS) of the Department of Agriculture (DA), which accredits certifying organizations. Right now, the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP) is the only accredited local certifying body. International certification can also be obtained by tapping the services of the international certifying bodies.
For the Arabica coffee production at the Benguet State University (BSU), the university recently received a certification for organic agricultural production; and processing and marketing of organic coffee from the Institute of Marketecology (IMO) based in the Netherlands. This certification was facilitated by the Figaro Foundation Corporation of the Figaro Coffee Company through Ms. Chit Juan.
BSU has a partnership agreement with Figaro Company for the organic production of Arabica coffee. With this certificate, which was on January 22, 2008, consumers of Arabica coffee from the Agroforestry project of BSU can be assured of organic coffee with international quality.
For more details about the organic production of coffee, you may contact Prof. Valentino Macanes, director of the Institute of Highland Farming Systems and Agroforestry (IHFSA) AT Bektey, Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet with cell phone number 09163402041.
