March 16, 2021 – Quezon City. The Standards Development Division (SDD) conducted the second part of the online initial SC for the Development of the PNS on the COP for Organic Agriculture Production of Heirloom Rice among the provinces of Benguet and Mountain Province. It was participated by 38 stakeholders from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg) of Benguet and Mountain Province together with the academe/research institutions and relevant stakeholders. The activity aims to gather technical and commercial inputs from participants on common farm practices that will support the provisions and principles of organic agriculture production of heirloom rice.
The discussion of the initial draft PNS was facilitated by the BAFS project management team led by Ms. Farlash D. Pancho and co-handled by Ms. Kristel Alarice R. Aborido, and Mr. Dominique S. Salcedo of the SDD.
After the series of initial stakeholders’ consultation, the next part of the standard development process for the PNS on COP for heirloom rice is the series of Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings to review the relevant comments and suggestions given by the participants during the activity. BAFS with the guidance of the TWG is driven toward the development of the PNS to intensify the global competitiveness of organic traditional rice in the market as well as protecting the cultural heritage of heirloom rice in the Philippines. ###
Figure 1. Online Initial Stakeholders Consultation for the Development of the Philippine National Standard (PNS) on the Code of Practice (COP) for Organic Agriculture Production for Traditional Rice Varieties (Heirloom) with Benguet participants
Figure 2. Online Initial Stakeholders Consultation for the Development of the Philippine National Standard (PNS) on the Code of Practice (COP) for Organic Agriculture Production for Traditional Rice Varieties (Heirloom) with Mountain Province participants