THE Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) is working on matching the production with the market demand in its bid to make the province's organic industry more stable.
Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino told SunStar Bacolod that OPA is conducting a survey among establishments like hotel, restaurants, other business institutions, and even hospitals to create a “profile” of their organic needs.
Masculino said from the result of the survey, which is set until August 15, they will then identify the farmers producing products especially with high market demand.
“We will determine that if what they produce is not enough to meet the current market needs, we will push to increase its production through expansion of areas,” he added.
The Department of Agriculture in Negros Island Region earlier said they recognize having market access as one of the major challenges for organic farmer-producers.
Negros Occidental currently has about 17,000 organic adaptors with almost 16,000 hectares farms.
Masculino said part of the Provincial Government’s effort to enable farmers to sell their products is addressing mismatching in terms of production and market.
He added that “like jobs, we should lessen production of commodities that have low market demand and increase those which we still have deficit."
The OPA chief said that instead of importing, establishments will source their raw materials locally.
“Given its climate variability, Negros Occidental is capable of producing organic products in low, middle, and upland areas,” Masculino said, adding that “we just have to match the market to the capability of the producers.”
While the market demand survey is ongoing, the OPA is also gathering data from the farmers on the kind and volume of organic commodities, both crops and animals, they are producing.
If necessary, the province will also tap other farmer-cooperators to maximize their organic production potentials through intercropping.
“To have a market-driven agriculture sector especially for organic, we need to work on balancing the production and consumption," Masculino said.