The importance of market-ready organic produce, according to a farmer

Photos courtesy of Maria Rona Beltran/Bicol Umalohokan
Photos courtesy of Maria Rona Beltran/Bicol Umalohokan

IT’S one thing to be able to grow organic produce. It's another to be able to sell them out.

The latter is a valid concern from farmers that have never grown and sold organic rice before. Is it really that hard to sell?

For Salvador Balbido, an organic practitioner in Santa Magdalena town in Sorsogon, selling organic rice shouldn't be a problem if it is market-ready.

So, how does he make his pigmented rice sell?

According to him, it should be a quality product. This means it is tested, through systematic observations both by the farmer and relevant stakeholders, including buyers.

"Of all the organic rice varieties I tried, the red rice is the best seller. So I stick with it," Balbido said. He also prefers the shredder in Irosin, albeit far because the result is satisfactory.

Balbido worked around the costly third-party certification by having his farm and practices checked by the Municipal Agriculture Office. The third-party certification was the prescribed certification method for organic farmers in the Philippines regardless of farm size and their market, but the Participatory Guarantee System is now allowed under the revised Organic Agriculture Law of the Philippines.

That being said, he takes pride in being the farmer in his town that has been growing red, black, and purple rice using his collections for the longest time. "I don't buy seeds because I have been saving for the next planting," he said.

Making your community your market is also a good starting point. Balbido's buyers are from Santa Magdalena, including the wife of his town's former mayor.

"I'm not behind in terms of income from organic practice. If I were, I would've gotten back to chemical-based farming," he said.

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Bicol Umalohokan is a group of communicators formed as fellows of Oscar M. Lopez Center, which has been organizing climate action campaigns in the Philippines through the Balangay Media Project.

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