Even before the coronavirus pandemic, which has afforded people to spend more time in the comforts of their home, Senator Cynthia A. Villar has been leading the campaign on vegetable gardening while enticing people to grow their own food.
“Home gardening is essential because of its contribution to food security and self-provision – a buffer against high food prices,” noted Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food.
Through the Villar SIPAG, the senator has been distributing seeds and organic fertilizers all over the country.
The senator is on the frontline of pushing gardening and composting — turning kitchen and garden wastes into organic fertilizers.
“I’ve always advocated home gardening as a strategy for food security and for the alleviation of nutrient deficiency. It is a big help for families to have direct access to healthier food and fresh vegetables. They don’t have to buy them in the market. They can even earn from it,” said Villar.
Aside from seedlings, the senator has been distributing free organic fertilizer made from kitchen and garden wastes. Villar SIPAG has 108 composting facilities, 68 in Las Piñas and Bacoor, and 50 through the Vistaland communities all over the Philippines.
They were distributed to LGUs, congressional districts, private individuals, homeowners’ associations and organizations, private and public schools, and farmers through their cooperatives and associations.
Furthermore, Villar SIPAG has farm schools, which were established to give free training in agricultural crop production, rice farming, native animal production and aquaculture.
The two farm schools in 2020 produced over 2,000 graduate trainees a year. It stopped its operation in March 2020 due to quarantine restrictions but in October 2020, Villar SIPAG Farm School in Las Pinas-Bacoor and San Jose del Monte City re-opened and resumed their training programs for agri crops production.
By giving away vegetable seeds and teaching people how to farm, the people who lost their jobs, including those who can’t buy their own food in the market, started cultivating their land, Villar said.
These families received food packages from different organizations and chose not to depend on these alone by growing their own garden.
Villar SIPAG continues to promote urban and home gardens because they believe that by teaching the people how to grow their own food, they will have easy access to healthy and nutritious food. The outcome of Villar SIPAG actions ultimately unfold when lockdown restrictions in the Philippines continue even to this day, the senator said.
Just a few months after May 2020, the people who received the vegetable seeds were able to grow their own food. They were able to cut down their food expenses and most especially, had more nutritious meals, Villar added.