The Philippine Development Assistance Programme, Inc. (PDAP), in its implementation of
the ‘Promotion of Participation in Sustainable Enterprises’ (PPSE) vigorously pursued the
marketing and production of organic rice as this has the highest potential of becoming a fullscale
industry.
The PDAP experience has shown that supporting industry-oriented enterprises, in particular
the organic rice industry would increase income of organic farmers and their communities.
This was validated during the series of consultations conducted in Cagayan de Oro, Quezon
City, and North Cotabato which were all attended by organic rice producers, NGOs,
marketing groups and concerned government agencies. There was unanimous agreement
among participants to aggressively promote and strengthen the organic rice industry. The
commitment was concretized through the creation of the Organic Rice Industry Technical
Working Group (ORI-TWG).
Philippine National Standards Specification for Organic Agriculture was initially prepared by
the ORI-TWG and was adopted by the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of
Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards (BAFPS). The requirements in the standard on
organic rice were culled from the series of regional orientation and training conducted by the
ORI-TWG for the installation of Internal Quality Control Systems (IQCS). Outputs during
the orientation and training were consolidated and included in the draft national standards on
organic rice. Drawn from the general principles of the Philippine National Standard on
Organic Agriculture, this standard on organic milled rice attempts to cover aspects on rice
postharvest operations, and on packaging, labeling and quality standards in order to be
confidently labeled organic. The on-farm production practices and conversion requirements
for organic agriculture for organic rice shall follow the Philippine National Standards for
Organic Agriculture.
Organic standards define the process of production and processing. They are merely a quality
status that can be measured in the final product. These organic standards are expected to build
a mutual trust between the organic rice farmers and the consumers. In this manner, consumers
are assured of genuine organic rice. At the same time, farmers are protected from unfair
competition of other producers who use the term “organic” in a fraudulent way.
These Standards for Organic Milled Rice cultivation have been prepared for the purpose of
providing a uniform approach to the requirements, which is the basis of the following:
postharvest operations, packaging, labeling, and consumer information.
 PNS-BAFS42-2008-OrganicMilledRice-2.pdf | [Organic Milled Rice part 2] | 166 kB |
