Everybody knows how important proper nutrition is.  However, nutrition is often slighted. Serving healthy meal options on the dining table can be a reality struggle for many today.

Modern living has so much to do with the state of household nutrition of many Filipinos. Fast-paced lifestyle drives the preference for everything that comes instantly quick and easy due to demanding work and household errands. Time is literally gold for many and inadvertently, at times, nutrition is sidetracked.

Financial incapacity is another reason. Many Filipinos are still living below poverty line making it difficult to provide their family decent amount of nutritious foods.

The imminent challenge is for those who is financially-incapacitated and time-challenged to gain easy access to nutritious foods readily available for daily consumption.

Fully aware of this situation the National Nutrition Council (NNC) heightened its nutrition campaign this year by promoting food gardening as intermediary solution to address malnutrition.

With the theme “Ugaliing magtanim, sapat na nutrisyon aanihin!”, the 2018 Nutrition Month is geared towards advocating food gardening as stop-gap measure to address micronutrient deficiencies among children, reduce food poverty, increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and improve the socioeconomic condition of Filipinos.

“Establishing food garden creates a food-secure community wherein family gets fresh food from their backyard - they know what is in their backyard and know what they are putting up in their garden. Since variety of foods is available, family is assured of the nutrients needed to prevent micronutrient deficiencies. Growing your own fruits and vegetables will save money because you won’t need to buy as much food. Also, teaching children to garden gives them immeasurable life skills of independence while encouraging them to eat more vegetables as well” said Nutrition Council Region 10 OIC-NPC Gladys Mae S. Fernandez.

NNC is pushing for the development of food gardens among families, communities, schools, government offices and workplaces. At a greater scale the agency aims to mobilize various stakeholders to provide a fostering environment for sustainable food gardens.

Setting aside minor labor and time needed to cultivate a food garden, it is undoubtedly possible for all to eat healthy meals despite everyday hectic life and meager income. Planting fruits and vegetables around the surroundings will ascertain the availability of nutritious foods, safe and appropriate for consumption.

There are practical agricultural technologies that come handy in food gardening even in urban areas with limited spaces. Some of the highly recognize anddoable gardening methods for the community, households, offices and schools are:

Food Always in the Home (FAITH) by the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC).  This system of food gardening makes it possible for farmers to plant and harvest vegetables throughout the year. The MBRLC suggested to practice crop rotation - the act of switching leguminous vegetables with non-leguminous vegetables after each crop yield.

Magic Square Meter Garden. A one-square meter plot planted with “plant and forget” and “die hard” type of plants – Malunggay, Alugbati, Camote tops, Kangkong and Pechay (MACK-P) that can accommodate 20 to 30 plants simultaneously planted.

Urban Gardening. Urban gardens are found near houses, on high rise apartment balconies, along drains and roads, and in temporary vacant lots. Two of the most practical urban gardening techniques are: (1) Container gardening or pot gardening which is the practice of growing plants, including edible plants, exclusively in containers instead of planting them in the ground. Containers range from simple and recycled plastic pots, plastic bottles, old tires and pails, and sacks. (2) Companion gardening, the planting of different crops in proximity maximizing the use of space to increase crop productivity.

Hydroponics. It is a method of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient-rich solution. It does not use soil, but instead the root system is supported using an inert medium (such as perlite, rockwool, clay pellets, or vermiculture).

Bio-intensive Gardening (BIG) Technology is a school-based ecological gardening method that addresses productivity and sustainability of food gardens. BIG practices include deep-dug and raised plots followed by minimum tillage, diversification by growing various indigenous vegetables, use of green tree fertilizers like kakawate (Gliricidia Sepium) to sustain soil fertility and cover cropping using legumes during the summer season, to protect soil health and conserve fertility.

Vertical Gardening. A vertical garden is a garden that grows upward (vertically) using a trellis or other support system, rather than on the ground (horizontally). Vertical gardening is used by many as a means to ensure they are using their garden space to its maximum potential. Vertical gardens can be used to grow flowers and even vegetables.

Having a food garden will go a long way bringing about socioeconomic and nutritional benefits. For one it will increase the availability of healthy foods for household consumption thus improving the nutritional status of the Filipino households. Moreover, it empowers the Filipinos economically enabling them to increase their purchasing power by generating extra earnings from the garden produce. More significantly maintaining food garden fosters community mobilization towards nutrition movement.

The solution to the country’s continuing battle to curb and end malnutrition is not and will not be an overnight process. The quest requires hand-in-hand effort necessitating every stakeholder to be nutrition champion in their own capacity. What is exceedingly needed is for all to take on the challenge making nutrition a household priority.

If anywhere it has to start at their backyard. (Azbie T. Talib – SunStar CDO)