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 Partnering for mountains in The Philippines21.10.2014Five members of the Mountain Partnership (MP) are linking arms to hold the 9th Negros Island Organic Farmers’ Festival in Bacólod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province of The Philippines, on 19-23 November 2014. This year’s theme for the annual gathering is One Negros, One Green Economy in line with the global call of Rio +20. The MP took part in the global process to ensure that sustainable mountain development (SMD) is part of the global agenda. New MP partner, the Province of Negros Occidental under Gov. Alfredo Marañón Jr. and Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, will lead the yearly event, supported by the Broad Initiatives for Negros Development (BIND), the regional Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme, Philippine section (NTFP-EP Phl), and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) in close coordination with the MP Secretariat. BIND coordinated the inclusion of the MP members in the five-day festival, thus demonstrating its capacity to forge horizontal and vertical multistakeholder partnerships. It worked with ONOPRA (Organic Na Negros Producers and Retailers Association), a coalition of non-government organizations, largely private mountain organic producers, consolidators, traders, and urban-based retailers. The ONOPRA practices showcase the upland-lowland integration of demand-based organic industry in the province. Subsistence farming with emphasis on food security is graduating to farming for the market among mountain farmers and indigenous peoples. From the national government, joining the festivities are Senator Mary Grace Sonora Poe-Llamanzares and Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Undersecretary for Special Concerns of the Department of Agriculture. Puyat is also the Alternate Chair of the Philippine National Organic Agriculture Board. At the international level, FAO Representative to The Philippines José Luis Fernández will attend. Fernández will tackle the Green Economy and SMD on the opening day. NTFP representatives Dean Ramón Razal of the College of Forestry, University of The Philippines Los Baños will give a talk on forest-based foods as examples of non-timber forest products while Erwin Diloy will showcase mountain-based wild honey harvesting. Diloy is the NTFP-Phl Enterprise Development Officer and the Philippine Forest Honey Network Coordinator. Other national line agencies on agriculture, tourism, science and technology, forestry and even security forces, such as the 303rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, international NGOs, such as the Third World Network, and indigenous communities will also join the festival. The special guests will be taken on a tour of agrotourism sites, including those mountain-based sites found at the Northern Negros Natural Park that encompass the Mandalagan and Silay mountains. The island festival has the following objectives:
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