A mid-week organic vegetable market was launched with a showcase of organic vegetable produce during the Cinco de Noviembre celebration in Silay City yesterday.

The mid-week market will be held every Wednesday by the Brgy. Patag United Organic Farmers Association, Jo Ann Diosa, Silay City high value crop technician, said.

Rosario Villarenia, association president, said the group began in 2010 and was organized by the provincial government through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist. She said they give a certificate of stewardship contract to cultivate and develop the more than 200 hectares of lands in Brgy. Patag in Silay City. Since then, the group had held various seminars and trainings in organic vegetable farming, livestock raising, integrated pest management and good farming practices, she said.

Villarenia said the association is currently producing an average of 6-8 tons of vegetables a month and has growing number of deliveries from various hotels and restaurants in Bacolod City and across the province. The bulk of demands owes to the rising popularity and benefits of the organic produce vegetables.

They use chicken manures for which the group has a source, mud press supplied by a sugar mill and vermi-compost that the group made. She said that the organic vegetable project has helped them a lot and has transformed the lives of the farmers in the area, Villarenia said.

The association has won the Regional Gawad Saka for Outstanding Vegetable Farmer for three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014 for where Villarenia and Rovilla Panganiban, their treasurer, were winners. The group is planning to triple the area for vegetables to cope up the increasing demand. The 60 members of the association are working on a 10- hectare area for organic high-value crops, she added.

Meanwhile, the 80 employees and agricultural extension workers of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and the 500 farmers of the province of Negros Occidental received incentives at the turning over of projects at the Provincial Capitol Lagoon in Bacolod City yesterday.

A certificate of recognition was given and incentives were announced by Regional Office Officer-in-Charge Charlito Brilleta of the Department of Agriculture to Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon in recognition of the program of the province on Crop Insurance Initiatives and Innovation, Dina Gensola of OPA said.*MNM

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