“moving to organic farming ultimately can mean the difference between eating and not-eating for many of the farmers involved in the program” Bachmann et al, 2009, MASIPAG
Farmer Jojo Paglumotan demonstrates rice breeding. A prolific MASIPAG breeder and farmer, his varieties have been adopted by other farmers in his province in Negros Occidental. MASIPAG
farmer members in the three main regional zones of the Philippines: Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. MASIPAG has offices in each region and works in 62 of the country’s 79 provinces. It has 40 regular staff and co-operates with 60 NGOs and 15 scientists from various universities. Research is focused on 107 food crops, cash crops, vegetables, fruits, agroforestry species and herbal plants, including banana, rice, coconut, taro, cassava, sweet potato, yam, corn, jackfruit, guava, mango, papaya, avocado, calamansi (small citrus), pomelo, malunggay (a green leafy vegetable), eggplant, chilli, string beans, okra, squash, bamboo and mahogany. A central focus of MASIPAG’s work is farmerled rice seed breeding. In 2014, there were 70 farmer rice breeders who had developed a total of 508 rice cultivars. MASIPAG has a national backup farm which serves as the core of the rice genetic conservation and improvement programme, maintaining almost 3,000 traditional rice varieties,
and MASIPAG and farmer-bred cultivars. MASIPAG also has 10 regional back-up farms cum community seed banks and 223 trial farms in 62 provinces. These seeds are well adapted to local conditions and the farmers have the potential to adapt them to future challenges. Seeds are respected by MASIPAG and its farmers as a common good and heritage, not as a commodity. Another key element is the farmer-to-farmer diffusion model. The network has 142 farmertrainers to assist new farmers. They are selected within their communities, based on their ability to practice sustainable agriculture successfully. This ensures that farmers have a sound understanding of what they teach and a high level of practical experience. They can use their own farm for demonstration purposes, and speak the language and know the culture of their fellow farmers. Farm exchange visits and demonstration and training days also take place. This process allows an organization with a very small staff to have a wide reach, providing extensive training which leads to good adoption rates. The agroecological farming promoted by MASIPAG is also organic. MASIPAG has its own organic standard which is equivalent to the common objective requirements in the organic standards of IFOAM. MASIPAG has a participatory guarantee system for assurance that farmers are adhering to the standard, and this is also recognized by IFOAM. The organic approach results in increased on-farm diversity that helps farmers to reduce production risks. It reduces CO2 emissions since it avoids the use of fossil energy-intensive inputs and prioritizes local markets, is adaptive to the challenges of climate change, and facilitates farmer empowerment through their control over genetic resources, agricultural technology and associated knowledge. Food security is emphasized by the network as the first priority of farming, and a comprehensive study, published in 2009, demonstrates the success of their approach. The study included data from 280 full organic farms, 280 in conversion to organic, and 280 conventional farms as a reference group, covering the three regional zones of the 109