Filipino organic food industry showing serious growth

• FILIPINO PRODUCERS OF ORGANIC foods and products are determined to become a force to reckon with in the food sector.
• They held recently the two-in-one AgriLink and AgriFood Trade Fair at the World Trade Center, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Pasay City.
• For organic foodies, the exhibit was an eye-opener, especially to those who thought of organic farming/production as growing crops without use of chemicals.
• The event was organized by the Organic Producers Trade Association (OPTA) headed by Mara Pardo de Tavera, who is behind the first organic market in Manila and Asia.
• A major part of the exhibit/fair was a seminar on International Organic Certification conducted by Michel Launay, EcoCert international inspector.
• It has become the ticket to entry in the export market.
• The exhibit also revealed how France could help our agri-economic endeavors.
• Membership allows Filipino farmers access to UBI-France, the French agency for International Business Development, and to Le Club, the French Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.
• To our pleasant surprise, we found out there was real interest in medicinal plants among organic farmers and they were making the most of it.
• At the Geo Farm booth, Edgard Guevara explained that in 1985, his farm in Mangayao, Bayambang, Pangasinan, was enriched with the use of livestock manure as fertilizer.
• Over at the Earthworm Sanctuary booth, proprietor Antonio de Castro talked about the "Angels of the Earth," the earthworms considered among the lowest of God's creatures.
• Another booth that we found interesting was that of A. P. Inocencio Farms (also known as Teresa Farms), which raised free-range chickens, pioneering in the Sasso breeds.
• Sasso (Selection Avicole de la Sarthe et du Sud Ouest) is a French poultry breeding company specializing in colored poultry strains developed over decades of breeding experience.