“Vegetables make up one of the primary daily food intakes of the average Filipino household”
VEGETABLES are good sources of vitamins, minerals, protein. and dietary fiber needed for proper nutrition. Aside from their nutritional value, vegetables are easily grown and the net income from vegetable cultivation is relatively high.
According to the 2023 National Nutrition Survey Food Consumption Survey vegetables make up one of the primary daily food intakes of the average Filipino household.
The same survey revealed that while fruit and vegetable intake is relatively similar across all income groups, poorer households actually consume more vegetables than wealthier ones.
Filipino consumers from poorer households feel the pinch of higher vegetable prices especially when typhoons devastate farmlands where these are grown.
While there are provinces with abundant vegetable harvests, lack of storage facilities, distribution and the logistics cost make vegetables expensive for the common folk.
I am grateful that there are private entities in the country encouraging urban vegetable gardening. This is a step toward addressing the problem of food insecurity.
This forms part of their CSR initiatives to engage the communities. Communities can cultivate vegetables for their consumption in their backyard or in repurposed containers. This can also be additional source of income for the families.
Through its socio-civic arm, San Miguel Foundation, San Miguel Corporation embarked on an urban farming project and community garden dubbed Backyard Bukid during the pandemic years on a vacant area at its headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
The program was envisioned by SMC Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang as a way to help staff of the conglomerate to put food on their table and earn additional income during the pandemic especially during the lockdown months.
The first backyard bukid at the SMC head office complex was a 750 sq. meter-area where volunteer employees, given training on the cultivation of edible crops, planted and tended the vegetables. The participants in the program were provided with seeds, tools and technical assistance while they allocated time for the garden’s upkeep.
San Miguel Foundation partnered with SEED Philippines to provide training on the proper cultivation of vegetables and organic farming methods such as composting, seedling production, natural pest control, and biopesticide formulation.
Organic farming and the use of organic fertilizer is being promoted to arrest soil degradation and nutrient depletion brought about by extensive cropping and long-term use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other inputs in farming.
From the indigenous vegetables which are included in traditional Filipino food preparations and vegetables enumerated in the Bahay Kubo song, high-value crops are now being cultivated in the Backyard Bukid and community gardens.
Backyard Bukid also has a nursery to ensure continuous supply of seedlings for transplantation.
In 2022, it was reported that the volunteer farmers harvested 15 crops that included eggplant, okra, tomato, gourd, string beans, romaine and kale totaling 475 kgs. The 17 member volunteers earned Php 4,000 each over three harvests.
Since its introduction at the SMC headquarters complex, Backyard Bukid has been launched in SMC’s facility in Pampanga, SMC Packaging Group’s Can Asia Plant and Metal Closure Plant in Cavite, the Bulacan Bulk Water facility in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; Better World Smokey Mountain. Community gardens were also set up in Barangay Pili, Camarines Sur; and Barangay Guihing, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur; and Barangay Impalutao, Impasugong, Bukidnon.
San Miguel Foundation plans to establish at least three new farm sites annually in places where SMC facilities are located.
“We wanted to provide more than just livelihood. We wanted to give our people a sense of purpose and ownership. That small patch of land gave us proof that the model could grow,” Ang said.
Since Backyard Bukid was started, over 3,000 kgs. of vegetables have been produced. Eighty percent of the income derived from the sales of the produce is distributed as cash benefits to members while the remaining 20 percent is allocated for farm maintenance and reinvestment.
Vegetable farming under the program now covers 3,400 sq. meters with over 120 volunteers from SMC workers, third-party personnel and residents of barangays near the farm sites.
It is noteworthy that the backyard bukid concept is being replicated by the participants in their residences, empowering them to produce food for their consumption and providing them with livelihood opportunities.
Over the years, SMC has been actively involved in boosting the country’s agricultural growth. It has partnerships with local farmers through its direct corn buying program and for the supply of cassava.
(The author, president/chief executive officer of Media Touchstone Ventures, Inc. and president/executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc., a non-government outfit advocating tree-planting and environmental protection, is the official biographer of President Fidel V. Ramos.)
