3 Pampanga LGUs get DA facilities

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2016/01/28/3-pampanga-lgus-get-da-facilities-454205
• Friday, January 29, 2016

By Ian Ocampo Flora

CLARK FREEPORT -- The local government units (LGUs) of Apalit, City of San Fernando and Angeles City were among the 17 government units that received composting facilities for biodegradable waste from the Bureau of Soils and Management (BSWM) together with the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 3.

The said agencies led the awarding at the Hotel Stotsenberg Clarkfield with Senator Cynthia Villar, concurrent chair of senate committee on agriculture, as the guest speaker during the program.

Recipients from Bataan include LGUs of Orani, Dinalupihan, and Abucay. From Bulacan were LGUs of Sta. Maria, Bustos, and San Ildefonso. From Nueva Ecija were LGUs of San Jose City, Bongabon, and Cabanatuan. From Tarlac were LGUs of Tarlac City, Camiling City, Victoria, and Gerona. And from Zambales was the LGU of Botolan.

Villar said that achieving sustainable agriculture is possible through the use of composting facilities.

“We are promoting these (composting facilities) because this is the only way so that we could prevent the degradation of the soil. As advised by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Office we must be able to compost our waste and bring it back to the soil," Villar said.

Villar said that soil degradation, if allowed to continue, would prove difficult for farmers to produce enough food for the population and also for the next generation.

"At the same time, maganda ito kasi makakapag produce tayo ng libreng fertilizer for our farmers," Villar said.

DA Regional Executive Director Andrew Villacorta said that through Republic Act 10068, or the Organic Agruculture Act of 2010, authored by then representative and now Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, paved the way for the practice of organic agriculture in the country.

“Today about 83,000 hectares is devoted to organic farming to which 10,000 hectares are in Central Luzon. Also, of the 14 locally organic certified farms of the country, five of these farms are situated here in Central Luzon,” noted Villacorta.