Sipalay Agro-Aqua Trade Fair opens; farmers urged to go organic
Acting Sipalay City Mayor Oscar Montilla, Jr. and successful agripreneur/organic farmer Ramon Penalosa cut the ribbon to officially open the Sipalay Agro-Aqua Trade Fair in celebration of its 9th Charter Anniversary over the weekend.
Penalosa, a member of the Farmer-Scientist Bureau of the Farmers Information and Technology Services (FITS) Center of the Negros Occidental Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), was guest speaker at the Fair.
The owner of Penalosa Farms in Victorias City challenged farmers to work together as a team to transform Sipalay City into the “first organic city” in the province, saying that organic farming is an irreversible trend and the only way to go in the light of global warming and climate change.
“Organic farming is not expensive and only uses local materials like fertilizers out of farm waste,” he said.
Penalosa added that organic products are more attractive and healthy looking, and demand a high price by 30 percent than products laden with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
“Tourists will not only go to your place because it is peaceful and has beautiful beaches but also to your organic farms,” Penalosa told local officials, farmers, guests and other city residents at the Fair.
The organic farmer also encouraged farmers to put up “edible gardens” by making use of containers. He pointed out that farmers or those interested in farming need not have farmlands but must have the right knowledge on how to convert their backyards into gardens that could produce chemical-free crops.
Citing the abundant display of agricultural products at the Fair, Penalosa lauded the strength of the irrigation dams and small water impounding systems in the city that help tremendously in mitigating the effects of El Nino on farmers’ crops.
The agripreneur congratulated the City Agriculture Office for regularly monitoring the prices of agricultural products, making it easy for farmers to sell their products.
Penalosa Farms is a show window of integrated natural farming business and has lured tourists from across the country who are interested on science-and-technology-based practices that are cheap, available, and sustainable.
Penalosa Farms operates “Monchitos” that sells probiotic poultry and pork products as well as NICERT-certified organic vegetables and fruits at SM Supermarket in Bacolod City. The organic section opened a few months ago to cater to health-conscious consumers.
Acting City Mayor Montilla, for his part, agreed with Penalosa that organic farming is the need of the times and issued his oft-repeated call for farmers to avoid using chemicals. He appreciated the guest speaker for making his message clear to farmers who listened intently to the speech.
The local chief executive called on his constituents to cooperate with the city’s food production efforts and to live up to the city’s battlecry “Ugyon Sipalaynon”.
Among those that welcomed organic farming were Barangay I farmers and the Barangay Mambaroto Organic Village which displayed and sold organically-grown and chemical-free vegetables, fruits, other crops, and poultry at the Fair.
Barangay I farmers showcased a creative way of using hanging bamboos as container for organic crops while Mambaroto farmers sold mushroom fruits and fruiting bags from the technology they learned from OPA. The group’s mushroom production is among the few successful mushroom projects in the province. (Vishia Tolcidas/OPA-FITS-Negros Occ)
