Urban Agriculture in the Philippines, Livestock

Introduction to urban agriculture in the Philippines, urban livestock farming in the Philippines: Growing plants and the rearing of animals, mainly for food and other domestic use in a city or town and its environment is known as urban agriculture. It also includes activities such as production, processing, marketing, and delivery of agricultural products. It is a key solution to rapid population growth, food crisis, and climate change. Urban gardening should not be limited to the person or farm growing the food. Because food waste is also a pressing matter that attracts a lot of attention, a community engaged in urban agriculture can not only preserve a fresh source of food but also help save the environment. Vertical farming, beekeeping, kitchen gardening, rooftop gardening, container gardening, and aquaculture, etc., are the different types of urban agriculture. Multiple views of crops can be cultivated in the least available space. With limited land available for large-scale cultivation of everything from herbs, vegetables, and fruits to perfumes and medicinal plants, the college has provided nursery management for ornaments, the rapid spread of orchids, high-value crops, and vegetable greens, and the development of native chicken. It should be noted that these are some of the components of urban agriculture.

A guide to starting urban agriculture in the Philippines, and urbanlivestock farming in the Philippines

Urban agriculture consists of several production systems. They vary from domestic production and domestic processing to large-scale agriculture. This is usually done in the inner city. Major Philippine agricultural products include Rice, Coconut, Corn, Sugarcane, Banana, Pineapple, and Mango.

Urban agriculture has increasing access to locally grown food. Some urban forms are designed for education, training, or re-entry programs only. Many are designed to improve food access in a particular community or to perpetuate traditional culinary cultures.

Some principles related to agriculture in the Philippines (directly and indirectly);

The state will promote a just and dynamic social system that complements the nation’s prosperity and freedom and provides people with poverty-free policies that provide adequate social services.

Promote employment, raise living standards, and improve quality of life for all. The goals of the national economy are the more equitable distribution of opportunities, income, and wealth; constantly increasing the number of goods and services manufactured by the nation for the benefit of the people, and increasing production capacity as the key to raising the standard of living for all, especially the backward people.

Urban agriculture has great potential in meeting basic human needs, not only providing food but also ensuring a sustainable distribution and production system that creates employment opportunities and a regular income for individuals. It also helps countries protect their environment and save on foreign currency and transportation costs.

Planning for urban agriculture addresses pre-existing urban issues such as livelihood and income opportunities, food availability and access, and in many cases conflicting land use.

Why is UA important?

This question enables us to refer to the external functionality of UA in more detail. In principle, the UA is a source of supply in the urban food system and is just one of many foods security options for homes. Similarly, it is one of the many tools for productive use of numerous open spaces, treatment and/or recovery of urban solid and liquid waste, saving or generating income and employment, and handling freshwater resources more efficiently. In practice and, of course, in many areas and a growing number of cities, the UA has been growing again for three decades. It has become a major supplier of foodstuffs to growing urban sectors, poor and not so poor, and an important element of nutrition for poor households. Furthermore, it is managing open spaces more easily, reducing urban waste disposal and treatment, generating additional income and/or saving cash, and providing employment. Direct or not, part-time or full-time, on a temporary or long-term basis. In a circular city, urban agriculture must meet the water needs from the water resources that arise from within the urban watershed. More suitable resources for rainfed agriculture may include natural rainfall, rainwater is used temporarily stored in ponds – also known as rainwater harvesting or urban wastewater. Due to significant public health concerns for farmers and consumers, untreated urban wastewater is not considered in farming plans in developed countries. There are two parts to this system that focus on production and sustainability. It starts with an urban farm that produces high-value crops.

Next, urban farmers maintain a sustainable approach by adopting activities such as composting, recycling, and more. Agricultural products are then made available to the community. For the next class, the community collects its waste from homes and returns it to the environment so that urban farms can be used for activities such as composting and recycling.

Growing crops in portable and modular planters is the practice of urban container gardening. With the help of trails and good and compact irrigation, urban container gardening allows crops to be planted in narrow spaces and vertical structures, similar to hydroponic technology but at a lower cost. This process is also useful for combating plastic pollution, as containers can be made from things that would otherwise be seen as waste, such as old plastic bottles.

Urban agriculture is also known as urban farming, it is defined as “the growing, processing and distribution of food crops and animal products in the urban environment, through the local community. It exists in many forms like community and backyard gardens; roofs and balconies. Growing in horticultural spaces, container gardening, aquaculture, hydroponics, fruit trees, and orchards; market farms, cattle breeding, and beekeeping. Urban agriculture includes post-harvest activities such as making value-added products in community kitchens, crops, and marketing products, and dealing with food waste is just a technique and approach to growing different types of plants (vegetables, herbs, spices, root crops, fruits).

Major crops cultivated in urban agriculture

Vegetable production is short-lived. Some can be obtained within 60 days of planting, so they are suitable for urban farming. Urban and peri-urban agriculture aims to produce high-value, destructive and high-demand fruits and vegetables.

Green leafy vegetables or herbs: Spinach, Coriander, Curry Leaves, Kale, Watercress, etc.

Root Crops: Potato, Sweet Potato, Cassava, Radish, Beetroot, Turmeric, Ginger, Carrot, etc.

Vegetables: Tomato, Eggplant, Chili, Capsicum, Peas, French Bean, Guards, Crucifix, etc.

Fruits: Avocados, Guava, Mango, Banana, Citrus, Cherry, Coconut, etc.,

Mushrooms: Button Mushrooms, Paddy Straw Mushrooms, Oyster Mushrooms, etc.

Livestock: Poultry, Rabbit, Goat, Sheep, Cattle, Pigs, Guinea Pigs, etc. And fragrant plants, ornamental plants, tree products, etc.

Bee products: honey, and beeswax, etc.

The Philippines is known for growing crops such as Mangoes, Coconuts, and Bananas. Although there is growing consumer demand for locally grown food, some products that cannot be grown indoors, such as Rice, are still imported. Although the country successfully produces and exports rice, wheat, and maize, which make up 67% of the cultivated land, it will soon see lower yields from heat and water pressure, which are further exacerbated by climate change. Despite local food demands, the challenges of extreme weather patterns such as frequent typhoons, costly operational costs, supply problems from farm to market, and pests threaten the country’s food supply. Like the rest of the world, the Philippines is facing a growing farmer population. Through indoor agriculture, some of these supply challenges can be tackled. In addition, urban agriculture is a great way to engage the young population. Urban roots have designed indoor hydroponics farm systems. They currently grow a variety of microgreens, such as Black, Arugula, Basil, and Purple Radishes, focusing on the high demand and low supply of these products in the Philippines. As consumers become healthier, the chances of microgreens have only increased, as crops offer even more nutritional value than their adult counterparts. They are now on grocery lists and restaurant menus. Advanced hotels and restaurants are adding them to salads, sandwiches, or main dishes. Microgreen farmers benefit from the rapid growth cycle of these crops. Despite their delicacy, they only have two to four weeks to harvest. Urban roots can grow microgreens all year round by growing indoors, avoid the need to use pesticides, and reach the potential for high seed distribution throughout the Philippines.

Urban agriculture program in the Philippines

Agriculture in the Philippines focuses on rural areas. Urban areas are the only preferred market for rural agricultural products. Sometimes, the artificial scarcity of rural agricultural products is felt in urban centers due to market strategy, or for other reasons, traders are preferred to market their products when they can make more beautiful profits. There is a logical way to reduce the problem of malnutrition in urban agricultural population centers. This means that food or agricultural products are produced within city limits, which may include population centers in bustling cities. Families or organized groups also produce on and off the roofs of homes and surrounding, open community or public places. Food production within a city is the main purpose of urban farming, but we also want to focus more on other resources available from the urban farming system, which are generally considered waste.

Plants are grown with the help of PAR or photosynthetically activated radiation in urban farming. Since not all lights are suitable for plants, PAR represents the amount of light that can help photosynthesis. Typically, PAR is 400 to 700 nm of light. PAR monitoring is essential to ensure that the plants are getting the light they need. Now you can do smart farming without unpredictable weather conditions.

Urban farming ideas in the Philippines

Here are some examples of emerging ideas for urban farming.

1. Containerized and modular farming – Food can also be grown indoors or outdoors in concrete spaces using growing containers. Containerized farming can use recycled products, waste materials, and other waste from residential, commercial, and industrial activities. Making container farming more beneficial for urban areas in the Philippines commercial and industrial companies are welcome to use their recycled products to produce sustainable food.

2. Vertical farming – This type of cultivation uses height to maximize plant growth. Vertical farming can also use containers. This type of farming can best be used if integrated into the overall architecture and design of the infrastructure. Alternative technologies can be used, such as the use of water to grow crops instead of hydroponics or soil, and the use of symbiotic relationships between aquaponics or fish (nutrients) and plants (waste filtration).

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Urban Vertical Farming in the Philippines — Vertical Farming (Pic credit: pixabay)

3. Backyard gardens – It is cultivating food in the homeland. Food can also be safe and secure. Backyard gardens benefit the community as neighbors can share each other’s backyards to achieve better yields.

4. Greenhouses – This includes agricultural practices in residential, industrial, and public urban areas in greenhouses and they need enough land to rely on their crops. These systems provide farmers with the opportunity to grow crops year-round because they provide a regular environment in which crops can be exposed to the different conditions required for production.

5. Vertical farms – It theoretically consists of planting upwards to reduce the impression of agricultural property. Green walls can be used as a tool for vertical fields as they use limited space.

6. Aquaponics – It suggests the tradition of raising marine animals such as fish in urban areas. This requires the use of a device that collects stormwater from inside the city and then builds a self-contained circulating network in tanks or artificial fish ponds. It is an effective crop growth.

7. Beekeeping – Beekeeping can help you develop additional products as well as other indirect benefits, such as better pollination of your existing crops. Having bees around vegetable plants will dramatically increase yield. However, you will need to do thorough research before working in agriculture. You will need to consider the size of the bee colony, the workforce, the weather conditions, the availability of nectar for the bees that will affect your bottom line.

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Urban Beekeeping in the Philippines — Beekeeping (Pic credit: pixabay)

8. Closed-loop system – It combines crop production, water conservation, waste energy, solar energy, aquaculture, and many other technologies. The closed-loop system is based on the concept of nutritional efficiency through less reliance on external form input. For example, an irrigation system can use solar energy to reduce energy consumption and improve water use efficiency.

Food security through urban agriculture in the Philippines

Agriculture experts say it is still possible for the Philippines to achieve food security through urban agriculture, a form of farming that will encourage households to grow their basic food. With economies limited by lockdowns, we are concerned about food security in urban areas that rely on food produced in rural areas. Rising food costs at risk in urban areas Philippines – The Secretary of Agriculture has emphasized the role of urban agriculture in ensuring food supply amid epidemics as it works to increase food security. Natural pollen increases the population of bees, birds, and bats. The food shortages seen in many urban communities around the world are not as severe as if the urban poor increased food production where they live.

Benefits of urban agriculture

On a grand scale, urban agriculture can help alleviate the problem of food shortages in population centers, which can help alleviate the problem and enhance the beauty of communities and homes. The participants’ attitudes and thinking patterns include food production, waste recycling, environmental protection, nutrition, working together, and the dignity of hard work. There are many benefits to urban agriculture. It provides a solution to the threat of food insecurity in cities as it provides fresh, healthy food to Filipinos. Growing food in the city, especially if done by a community, can also help reduce the harmful effects of climate change as people play their part in promoting sustainable agriculture in their areas.

For the personal benefit of the participants, all of the following may be added to them. The sense of fulfillment of the food they eat. Their sensitivity in their environment has changed because now it will mean what they eat to nourish their body. There is a desire to grow more and add more food because they look delicious and more nutritious except for the fact that they are safe from toxic chemicals. Changed regard to discarded material, refuse, rain, sunlight, wind, dust, and degradable waste that has been converted to something that can be used beneficially for food production.

Sense of being well as their undefined restlessness finds solace in caring gardens that produce the food they need. Urban agriculture will benefit urban dwellers, urban centers, the environment, and the country in general.

Planning and land use management for urban agriculture

Identification of areas for urban agriculture – The relevant regional, provincial and municipal / city development plans for the program areas, as well as urban land use maps, will be reviewed to identify specific areas for urban agriculture.

Identification of common agricultural land use – Land capacity and suitable land maps will be obtained and will be reviewed to identify suitable crops or crop types based on physical characteristics.

The current status of urban agriculture in the Philippines

Despite many collaborative efforts by various agencies, the Department of Agriculture, public academic institutions such as the University of Laguna Cavite State University in Indang, Cavite, Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, Nueva Ecija; believe that urban agriculture in the Philippines is underdeveloped. Therefore, there is still a large room for research, extension, and training activities in the Philippines to promote and properly implement urban agriculture.

Urban policies in the Philippines

Urban farming in the Philippines is a shared responsibility of the government at the national and sub-national levels, but local governments are key to urban development. Urban planning follows a hybrid approach from top to bottom. The country has long supported a decentralized approach to healthcare after integrated care from the national level to the district level. In this arrangement, the private sector plays a key role in providing health services, if not more.

Governance – UA governance can primarily include land, land use, access, food, and the ecosystem, health, education, and the environment, as well as heritage and cultural practices, established a conceptual framework for the governance process of urban agriculture and identified the features that influence the management process of urban agriculture initiatives. The three levels of this framework, which include the basic features of urban agricultural governance: (i) Urban context (including the local geographic situation, economic and political situation, the agricultural context, and the status of urban-rural relations); (ii) features of external governance (including public policies, partnerships, legal process) and (iii) features of internal governance, including project objectives include local scale, time, actors and resources (land, finance and knowledge dynamics in the project). All of these are embedded in local conditions due to geography, climate, economic and political situation, cultural values, and urban-rural relations.

NUDHF in the Philippines

In the Philippines, the challenge for national urban policymakers and decision-makers continues to be to strike the right and effective balance between policy-making at the governmental level and to provide details on how to intervene and invest. What has been done, on the other hand, has been done by the local governments. Also, the current National Urban Development and Housing Framework (NUDHF) recognizes the right of the people to the city by emphasizing the concept of urban development included in its policy statements. And the progress that ordinary people have made without having to wait for the promise of a ” trickle-down” to work. However, rapid urbanization is a major challenge for both national and local governments as they struggle with the increasingly difficult task of handling and resolving urban issues and challenges. The national urban policy development in the Philippines is critical to achieving sustainable, smart, and green cities. Urbanization has been a major trend globally and has potentially been a key contributor to progressive development.

NUDHF provides a broad framework for urban development. It aims to guide the efforts of the Philippine government, the private sector, and other stakeholders to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the country’s urban systems. The current realities and the expected effects of urbanization now require updating the country’s urban development and housing framework. NUDHF, through the constant evolution of spaces and systems, is now looking for a new urban development model, which simultaneously expands and abandons previous policies.

Urban infrastructure and basic services

Water and sanitation

Streamline improve policies and regulatory frameworks to ensure sustainable water security in urban areas. Water and sanitation infrastructure must be in line with legislation, policies, and organizational development plans. Simplifying the regulatory framework from the approval of water and sanitation projects to maintenance will enable the protection, exploration, development, and expansion of water and sanitation services for large urban systems. Implement programs and measures on watershed protection.
Promote and support modern water and sanitation technologies. Cost-effective, alternative technologies, including water recycling, should be supported in water and sanitation. This includes investing in research, prototyping, and fully evolving technologies, especially local solutions.
Financial support for climate and disaster prevention water and sanitation infrastructure. Mobilizing resources, including in the private sector, will give the government the flexibility to develop and implement high-investment infrastructure projects. Replicating and improving the achievements of privately managed water utilities will further strengthen the flexibility of urban water infrastructure.
Strengthen local government capacity on water and sanitation management.

Linking urban water use to urban agriculture has the potential to be mutually beneficial. The availability of safe alternative sources of water is possible;

facilitating greater use of urban agriculture,
proper use or reuse of municipal water that can improve stormwater and wastewater management on urban rivers excessive gutter load and nutrient load can reduce resource recovery.

Greater private sector participation in urban development in the Philippines

Because in a developing country like the Philippines there will be significant barriers to investment in capital assets for infrastructure, public services, and even disaster management, the government has decided to address these challenges privately without putting pressure or burden the population with higher taxes.

The private sector, for its part, has made significant progress over time in overcoming the challenges of the Philippines ‘ urbanization, particularly in the areas of transportation, communications, property development, and disaster management. Much needs to be done and believe the private sector can still accelerate its role in developing more livable communities inside and outside the city that promotes decline and significantly improves living standards.

Expanding access to community service – It is also worth noting how business groups in the Philippines are rapidly expanding access to products and services that meet the basic needs of a large segment of society. To meet the challenges of our urbanization, we must aim for development that is felt in all segments of the population. Found that different ways to provide products and services at different prices over time that meet a wide range of needs. Believe that our businesses can play a role in providing practical and realistic solutions to some of the challenges facing society at large, provided we participate in industries that meet basic human needs – housing, banking, telecommunications, and water distribution.

Overall, we have seen that these initiatives can create social inclusion while reaping attractive benefits and create a more comprehensive development approach to communities and development and urban challenges. There are three main hazards of horticulture in cities and urban environments: soil, water, and air pollution. There are three types of air pollution: (1) non-accumulation in plants, (2) transport vectors of pollution, and (3) pollution that is carried in plants. Within a city, there are many sources of pollution: such as traffic, industries, and heating.