Cacao DNA Test & Organic Agriculture Certification – Procedure Should Not Determine The Way Of Business

Organic food is richer – and so it is also pricier, and therefore worth growing.

Under the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, your farm needs a 3rd-party certification before you can label your farm produce as "Organic." The cost of certification ranges from P42,000 to P150,000, valid for 1 year[1].

Similarly, if you are into cacao farming, like Indai Le Cortes of Villa Cortes Criollo Farm is, to be able to officially claim that your tree is heirloom whatever, you need a DNA test, and the cost is also prohibitive.

Miss Indai shares on Facebook:

I want to announce to everyone that what I have discovered as "Possible Heirloom Cacao Trees" are not yet DNA-tested and my nursery, Villa Cortes Criollo Farm is not BPI-NSIC Registered (either).

All that I have discovered are certified by the Plantacion De Sikwate Cacao Producers, Inc, an association of which I am a member. We simply believe that those I have discovered are remnants of the Manila-Acapulco Trade because of the characteristics shown by their fruits and the age of the trees.

A claim is a claim, nota guarantee.

I think I do not need to be certified by any government agency because I do not bid for or sell to the government. Also, a huge amount of money is needed for DNA testing.

Indai has the same problem with our farmers who want to receive their Organic Agriculture Certification but cannot afford the yearly fee: minimum P100,000.

I say: Those who cannot afford the certification fee or the DNA test should be encouraged anyway – taking another route.

So, Miss Indai settled on calling her cacao trees "Possible Heirloom Cacao Trees." In other words, when you buy her cacao seedlings, you are not assured that the parentage is correct, that it is "Criollo" or whatever.

Miss Indai's decision not to pursue DNA testing is economic; our rice farmers can emulate her and decide not yet to pursue organic certification – but begin to practice the ways of organic farming anyway. If you want to be an organic farmer, you should stop applying chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides even before applying for certification.

There are 2 harvests a year. After the first season, you can sell your farm produce with the label "Naturally Grown, Season 1." Pursuing this line, your produce will have labels like these:

Naturally Grown, Season 1
Naturally Grown, Season 2
Naturally Grown, Season 3
Naturally Grown, Season 4
Naturally Grown, Season 5

When your farm reaches Season 10 – in 5 years – with no chemicals applied on the crop, time to apply for organic certification. It should be cheaper. If not, I buyer will settle on the Naturally Grown label. Food labelled "Naturally Grown" is exactly like chicken labelled "Free Range," where the field or farm soil may/may not have some residues of chemical fertilizers and/or pesticides.

In short, if you want to be organic, the need for certification should not be a barrier, like Indai is treating her cacao seedlings for sale.@517

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[1]https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/02/07/senate-bill-to-seek-lower-organic-certification-costs/