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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Wednesday, January 25, 2017
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MANILA – More than 2 million, or 10.6 percent of Filipino families experienced “involuntary hunger” in the third quarter of 2016, according to the Social Weather Stations survey.
While the latest hunger level is lower than the previous quarter’s 3 million hungry families, Sen. Loren Legarda said that many Filipinos still fail to access food.
Legarda, a staunch environmentalist, encouraged everyone to establish community gardens to provide them a ready source of food.
“It is ironic that millions of Filipino go hungry even if our country is so rich in natural resources. To effectively reduce, and hopefully eliminate, hunger, as well as malnutrition and poverty, we have to provide our people the kind of support that will have long-term effects,” she said.
The Antiqueña senator earlier authored Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1186, or the Food Forest Gardening Act seeking to promote and institutionalize food forest gardening in the country as a sustainable land use system to address the limited resources for sustainable food production.
Her proposal would provide increased harvest levels at minimal farm working expenses, according to her.
“A food forest is a system of gardening using perennial vegetables chosen to complement and support each other, minimizing weeds, pests and maintenance while providing a rich variety of harvest,” Legarda explained, adding that food forest gardens could be established in any soil structure.
SBN 1186 mandates the local government units to conduct a comprehensive food forest gardening in their areas.
Home developers, homeowners, neighbourhood, community and other people’s organizations will be encouraged to participate in the program, the measure stated.
The bill also seeks to integrate the program in the academic curriculum for senior high school and college students taking up Agriculture, Practical Arts, and Home Economics./PN
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