Senator Cynthia Villar lauded on Wednesday the signing of the law that is aimed at strengthening organic agriculture in the Philippines.

President Duterte signed last Dec. 23  Republic Act (RA) No. 11511 which amends the RA 10068, or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010.

Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food and the sponsor of the law, said this will "provide for a more affordable system of organic certification which will allow small farmers to benefit from producing organic products.”

She referred to the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) that the law creates, which refers to a locally focused quality assurance system where small farmers and fisher folk, farm associations or cooperatives and their products shall be certified as organic.

The law also establishes the National Organic Agriculture Program-National Program Coordinating Office (NOAP-NPCO) to manage the effective implementation of the National Organic Agriculture Program, and will serve as planning, secretariat and coordinating office of the NOAB.

Further, the new law also restructures, strengthens, and empowers the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards, which will provide technical assistance to the NOAB and the NOAP-NPCO.

The senator said the "most important feature of this law" is it would supposedly allow small farmers to get certification at P600 to P2,000 per year, compared to the the international certification costing P100,000 per year.

"The exorbitant cost in the past prevents small farmers from practicing organic farming and also makes organic products expensive for many Filipinos,” Villar pointed out.

Aside from environmental protection, Villar said the law will result in increased profits since it promotes the use of natural and farm-based resources and inputs like organic fertilizer, "which would yield to less input cost".

Over 165,000 organic farming practitioners are expected to benefit from the amended Organic Agriculture Act if implemented properly, she said.