October 11, 2021. The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (DA-BAFS) had successfully conducted a training on Certification of Core Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) groups and Accreditation of Organic Certifying Bodies (OCBs) to capacitate the DA partner regulatory agencies in the implementation of Section 14 (PGS) of the amended Organic Agriculture Act of 2010.
The one-week training course held from 4 to 8 October 2021 via Zoom was attended by 90 participants from Regulatory Division of DA-Regional Field Offices (DA-RFO), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) central and regional offices, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), and Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
The training course covers the salient provisions of the amended Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 pertaining to PGS, Philippine National Standards (PNS) for Organic Agriculture, certification and accreditation process of core PGS groups as OCBs, and inspection and auditing protocols.
Only 71% of the registered participants have successfully completed the training course due to unstable internet connection brought by the bad weather and other urgent matters in their office. Despite of these challenges, majority of the participants expressed their appreciation on the gained knowledge from the training course and commended the conduct of the activity. Participants suggested actual field demonstrations on inspection and audits in the next training.
The DA-BAFS will conduct other activities toward the establishment of a pool of inspectors and assessors for the regulation of PGS. ###
Figure 2. Screengrab of the group photo of the participants with BAFS Assistant Director
Mary Grace Mandigma during the Closing Ceremony on October 8, 2021.