Empowerment Development Model of Organic Farmers

Abstract

Organic farming in the Philippines is taking a toll in establishing its sustainability in the market due to varying factors. This study determined the adoption of organic farming in the Visayas area, Philippines, A.Y. 2020 with the end view of formulating an empowerment development model for farmers. The study utilized the multi research method with the use of researcher-made questionnaire as the main instrument in data gathering. Both quantitative and qualitative data was used in ascertaining the factors that influenced the adoption of organic farming in Visayas. There were thirty-five (35) respondents who were the farmers from the selected organic farms in Visayas, both in Region VI-Western Visayas and Region VII-Central Visayas. These farms are accredited by a third-party accrediting body of the Department of Agriculture. Convenience sampling technique was used where the participants were selected based on their availability and their willingness to take part of the study. The main instrument used in gathering the data was research-designed and had undergone content validation and pilot testing to ascertain their functionality and reliability. For data analysis weighted mean, chi-square test of independence and One-Way ANOVA. Land size, soil quality, farmer’s level of education and labor demand techniques influenced the farmers in adopting organic farming at a moderate extent. The organic farmers moderately practiced soil management, weed control techniques, crop diversification, fertilization, irrigation and harvesting. There is a significant relationship between the type of respondents and the extent of influence of land-size to the farmers toward adopting organic farming and there is also another significant relationship between cooperative membership of the respondents and the extent of influence of labor demand techniques towards the farmer’s decision to engage in organic farming. However, there is no significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the farming practices they employed in their organic farming activity. There is no significant difference between the responses of the respondents on the extent of influence of the factors like land-size, soil quality, farmer’s level of education and labor demand techniques to the farmers in their inclination to adopt organic farming and the organic farming practice that used in their organic farming by activity Despite of a good market opportunity of organic farming, there was just a gradual conversion of the farmers from organic farming to conventional farming even though the country is doing some initiatives to push for the sustainability of organic farming industry.  Likewise, the growing demand for organic produce in the market, the farmers in Region VI and VII have shown hesitation towards full adoption and had not applied the ideal farming practices at a maximum level to ensure that their activity addresses the vulnerability of the environment vis-a-vis fulfilling the commitment to provide healthy and nutritious crops to the consumers.