Senator Cynthia A. Villar on Tuesday, June 14 reiterated the adoption of composting procedures and the use of organic fertilizer to protect the soil after noting that bad practices in agriculture reduce nutrients in the soil which resulted to its 38 percent degradation.

In her video message during the 71st anniversary of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), Villar underscored the need to produce organic fertilizer from agricultural residues like rice straw, corn stover, animal manure, and others that can replace the inorganic/synthetic or chemical fertilizers.

"You are one with us in actively promoting organic farming methods especially producing organic fertilizer," Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said.

"Since we have many biodegradable wastes in our environment, I have been transforming them into useful things. We have many of them in our markets and in our own homes, so there is a need for a facility for them near our farms, trading posts and markets," she added.

Villar said the biodegradable wastes in our residential areas consist of kitchen and garden wastes.

"We only need to collect and convert them into organic fertilizers or compost which can be used by our farmers, most especially now that fertilizers are very expensive, and sometimes, they are not available for our farmers," she explained.

The lady senator, who also leads the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, related that she has personally caused the establishment of 117 composting facilities nationwide. Sixty seven of them are found in her hometown in Las Pinas while 50 are located at Vista Land Communities.

"Villar SIPAG is included in this advocacy. We are distributing for free our organic production to our farmers and plantitos/plantitas across the country," said Villar.

According to the senator, she started this advocacy in 2002 to help minimize waste and to encourage the use of biodegradable wastes for healthy soil.

She also stated that Republic Act (RA) 10068, or the Organic Agriculture Act, was signed into law in 2010 which intends to expand organic agriculture in the Philippines.

There is also RA 9003, or the Ecological Waste Management Act, which mandates the segregation and reduction of wastes through recycling and composting.

"These two laws promote protection for our environment especially organic agriculture through composting," she said.

"To realize this, I need to remind always the BSWM because it is important that we give Composting Facilities for Biodegradable Waste (CFBW) to our farmers and local government in the whole country. I hope you would do this, particularly now that chemical fertilizers are so costly,’’ she pointed out.

Villar said this project was also being supported by the DA-National Organic Agriculture Program, and the DA- High Value Crops Program. The CFBW consist of one unit of rotary composter and one unit of shredding machine.

"It is really important that we take care of our soil to have productive harvest and lower hunger, food insecurity in our country," said Villar during the event with the theme, "Malusog na Lupa at Tubig na Sagana, Tungo sa Progresibong Agrikultura.’’