03/09/2026
โPGS make organic assurance more affordable and more relevant to local realities while maintaining the credibility that consumers seek. Most importantly, they ensure that organic agriculture makes a pathway for family farmers and rural communities rather than a system only accessible to those with the greatest resources. This is why organizations such as PGS Pilipinas is so important; you are not only implementing a certification mechanism, you are building a movement through your advocacy, capacity building, community education, and policy engagement. Youโre helping to ensure that the voices of small organic farmers are heard and respected. Your efforts demonstrate that effective organic systems are built from the ground up through participation, mutual accountability, and collective action.
IFOAM Organics International stands with you on this journey, we believe that farmer-led PGS is not only relevant to the Philippines but also serves as an inspiration to organic movements around the world. Your work demonstrates that trust can be organized, that communities can safeguard integrity together and a sustainable food systems are strongest when farmers are at the center. You are not a small network doing local work; you are part of a global assertion that organic integrity can be and should be in farmersโ own hands." - Karen Mapusua
Ms. Karen Mapusua, president of IFOAM - Organics International, extends her support to PGS Pilipinas' 5th General Assembly. Mapusua underscores the importance of the farmers' leadership in the organic agriculture movement and in the continued promotion and expansion of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). She stresses how PGS builds trust between farmers and consumers, and how it serves as an advocacy tool of asserting the farmers' place in the local markets.
IFOAM-Organics International, with its member-organizations, aims to lead the global organic movement towards a transformative food and farming systems. It currently has more than 700 affiliates from more than 100 countries around the world.