Department of Agriculture(DA)

February 19, 2021 Dear genevieve jao, Greetings! Thank you for your request dated Feb 01, 2021 03:18:14 PM under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch. Your Request You asked for Export volume of organic produce. Response to Request Your FOI request is approved. Thank you for your continuous support to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its programs. We apologized for the delay of our response. We personally talked the Organic Agriculture program regarding the problem encountered in their website. Here are the answers for your email: 1. According to NOAP, we don’t have enough information yet on the export volume of organic produce and average farm yield per ha of organic produce because our current data because our current data (https://openstat.psa.gov.ph/PXWeb/pxweb/en/DB/DB__2L__IMT__PCG/0012L4DGXA0.px/?rxid=bdf9d8da-96f1-4100-ae09-18cb3eaeb313)/ Export Volume is very limited to agriculture exports only but it doesn’t specify yet the commodity and if it’s organic. Since the program is still new in our Department, initial discussions were being made by the NOAP to tariff commissions to have Organic Agriculture separate database for its export products. NOAP said to have this data, they should have a separate tariff code. 2. We can only provide the Certified Organic Farms, we don't have data on the total number of farms converted to organic farming. You can download it to the following links: - Registered Organic Soil Amendment Producers(OSA): http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/organic_osa - Registered Organic Bio-Control Agent Producers(OBCA): http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/organic_obca - Registered Organic Farms http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/reg_org_food_prod - Officially Accredited Organic Certifying Bodies http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/organic_accredited_cert_bodies - THIRD-PARTY CERTIFIED ORGANIC OPERATORS IN THE PHILIPPINES http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/list_of_3rdparty_operator 3. Organic Laws and Guidelines for the Certification http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/assets/Handbook/view_publication?book_id=22 http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/bafs_admin/admin_page/pns_file/PNS-BAFS07-2016OrganicAgriculture.pdf To help you more on your research, please download the National Organic Agriculture Program Milestones http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/assets/Handbook/view_publication?book_id=20 The certification is handled by the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) thru their Organic Agriculture Division http://www.bafs.da.gov.ph/Organic%20Agriculture For more information, please contact NOAP at [email protected] or call them at (02) 8941-8143 or (02) 8928-8741 to 64 loc. 3322. Your right to request a review If you are unhappy with this response to your FOI request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response by writing to Secretary William D. Dar. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made within 15 calendar days from the date when you received this letter. We will complete the review and tell you the result within 30 calendar days from the date when we receive your review request. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Office of the President under Administrative Order No. 22 (s. 2011). Thank you. Respectfully, AFID FOI Receiving Office