(Part three of five)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY —Rapid urbanization and population growth in the Philippines, where an estimated 30 percent of the population is living below the national poverty line without access to basic necessities such as adequate sanitation and potable water, has led to serious negative consequences on both human and environmental health.
But community-based solutions that tackle these problems head-on are fast emerging. One such solution is the urban container gardening (UCG), perfected by Perfecto “Jojo” Rom, 35, as a strategy to “democratize agriculture and empower households to participate in food production and ecological sanitation [Ecosan].”
However, when Rom started UCG in 2002, he had no inkling that he had developed a program that answers a lot of questions that the government and the private sector have been trying to answer for a very long time, issues such as environmental protection, sanitation, food security and nutrition.
As he pursued the development of the UCG, however, he had slowly realized that growing food, especially highly nutritious organic vegetables in the household, is now a possibility in urban areas.
Aside from positively impacting food security, environmental protection, sanitation and economic problems of urban poor, UCG also positively impacts nutrition problems in the city.
Because most city dwellers rely so much on processed “instant food”, most residents now lack the proper nutrients needed for the body’s optimal function.
“Malnutrition in the Philippines is caused by a host of interrelated factors – health, physical, social, economic and others. Food supply and how it is distributed and consumed by the populace have consequent impact on nutritional status. While reports indicate that there is enough food to feed the country, many Filipinos continue to go hungry and become malnourished due to the inadequate intake of food and nutrients. In fact, except for protein, the typical Filipino diet was found to be grossly inadequate for energy and other nutrients. In order to compensate for the inadequate energy intake, the body utilizes protein as an energy source. Thus, the continuing PEM [protein-energy malnutrition] problem in the country,” the UN’s FAO said.
This is the reason Sen. Edgardo Angara launched last year the Oh My Gulay! (OMG!) campaign to create awareness among children about the nutritional value of common Filipino vegetables and encourage Filipino households to help fight malnutrition by growing and eating vegetables. This becomes a must since high-production inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other agro-chemicals, labor and transportation contribute to make the price of an ordinary vegetable too expensive for the average Pinoy daily wage earner.
The World Bank has classified the Philippines as one of the most rapidly urbanizing countries in the world with more than 58 percent of the population living in urban areas. The National Statistics Coordination Board estimated that at least 30 percent of the population is living below the national poverty line. In its survey result for the second quarter of 2011, the Social Weather Station reported that 15.1 percent, or about 3 million families are regularly suffering from hunger. All these contribute to widespread malnutrition and chronic hunger resulting to serious public-health problems. The Health and Nutrition Center of the Department of Education shows that 17 percent of schoolchildren all over the Philippines in 2009 are undernourished.
The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) reported that 26 out of every 200 school-age children in the country are malnourished. Most of the children are malnourished because of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, the FNRI added. The institute also said the average per-capita consumption of fruits and vegetables by Filipinos is 54 grams a day and 111 g/day, respectively, which is way below the minimum required intake of 400 g/day as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for a healthy diet.
“Today, whether we admit it or not, we are confronted with exorbitant costs of food, especially for vegetables. Studies say that the average Filipino household spends more than 40 percent of its income for food also while the poorest Filipinos allocate almost 60 percent of their available household budget to feed their families,” the FNRI and Philippine Association of Nutrition said.
But with the UCG, Rom has given each household that practices it as a solution to the problems of nutrition. To be continued
