A HOUSE Bill (HB) seeking to include urban agriculture and vertical farming to the school curriculum has been filed in anticipation of food shortages affecting the urban poor.
HB 7526, “Integrated Urban Agriculture and Vertical Farming Act of 2018,” introduced by Una Ang Edukasyon Representative Salvador B. Belaro, Jr., proposed to institutionalize integrated urban agriculture and vertical farming “to ensure food security, promote livelihood and to regenerate ecosystem functions in metropolitan areas.”
The measure also proposed that higher educational institutions and training centers offer advanced elective courses for students in agriculture-related programs.
“The urban poor could be hit hard by the lack of NFA (National Food Authority) rice, especially the urban poor in Manila, Cebu, and Davao,” Mr. Belaro said in a statement, noting that through the cultivation of crops to substitute for rice, such gardens could provide for the needs of the urban poor.
Mr. Belaro also said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) claims urban agriculture has “the potential to provide nutritional improvement, hunger reduction, income-generation, enterprise development, and environmental improvement to the city,” and help address the pressures from a growing population. The UN expects the world population to increase to 9.1 billion by 2050 with 70% residing in urban areas.
Integrated urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing agricultural products from animal husbandry, aquaculture, agro-forestry and horticulture in or around a metropolitan village, town or city. Vertical farming is a method of indoor agriculture for growing produce in vertical layers in modern buildings.
These methods, unlike rice farming, do not require much land, which makes it favorable for those in urban areas.
Another provision of the House Bill is the creation of the “Urban Farming Council,” set to be an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, to be composed of Cabinet officials in charge of the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of Education, among others.
HB 7526 also requires the participation of local government units (LGUs) as one of the key implementors of the measure. LGUs can assist by allowing urban farmers to practice these methods in idle or abandoned government-owned areas or by giving incentives to communities that host urban farming activities. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
