Engr. Martina Reyna of the La Granja Farmers and Agri-Ventures Association discusses the importance of organic farming for soil, water, and energy conservation
DILIMAN, Quezon City—With its mission to empower and build capacities of agriculture and fisheries stakeholders for sustainable development, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) conducted over 20 free seminars in 2019.
Spearheaded by the Partnerships and Accreditation Division (PAD), the seminar series on crops, livestock, fisheries, and urban agriculture has benefited thousands of attendees from all over the country.
To cap off this year’s undertaking, “Organic Agriculture for Newbies” was conducted. Engr. Martina Reyna, organic agriculture practitioner and president of the La Granja Farmers and Agri-Ventures Association in Tacloban City, discussed the importance of organic agriculture in relation to soil, water, and energy conservation.
“We need to feed the soil for it to give the necessary nutrients for plant growth,” Reyna stressed.
Reyna also showed the steps in preparing concoctions and extracts used in organic farming. These include the fermented plant juice, fermented fruit juice, organic herb nutrient, and vermitea.
PAD chief Engr. Renato Dela Cruz graced the event and thanked the participants for their continuous support. He encouraged the participants to share the knowledge they gained from the free seminar with their families and communities so that information on organic farming will continue to spread.
Mario Pinca, a farming newbie from Quezon City, shared his thoughts after the activity.
“The seminar was great. I learned that we can produce good-quality vegetables in a natural way, without the use of [harmful] chemicals and pesticides. I plan to practice organic agriculture in my small farm in Laguna,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Alvin Muyco from Negros Occidental has attended many of the free seminars since May this year.
“I was really looking forward to this seminar as I am planning to utilize part of our sugarcane plantation for organic farming. I will go back to Negros to start farming using the information and technologies that I learned from the free seminars,” he said.
About 200 farming enthusiasts joined the last of the Institute’s free seminars for 2019. This was held on December 9 at the Rural Development and Education Center in this city.