The world took an unpredictable turn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease continues to beget not just mortality and morbidity to the world, but also food insecurity, which can lead to hunger, malnutrition, and worst, death.

Due to the community quarantine setting, working individuals are forced to stay at home with the majority having no income to suffice their daily needs, especially food.  Also, mobility is limited, thus food availability and accessibility are affected. When this instance is prolonged, this may result to increased incidence of malnutrition, as an indirect effect of this pandemic.

So how can we make food available despite all these circumstances? Home gardening is the key!

Home gardening was being practiced since ancient times as an effective method towards food security. This is also known as an efficient approach to increase availability of varied home-grown foods and to enhance the diet with vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits, energy-rich staples and protein sources of the households, keeping its members healthy and well to be able to fight against COVID-19 and other forms of infections.

When planning to engage in home gardening, one should have at least seeds or stalk to be planted, good quality soil, and gardening and watering tools. One may buy commercial fertilizer or use organic fertilizers available such as compost, kitchen ash, tree litters, kitchen waste, animal manure and others to increase the garden’s productivity. Seeds can be acquired from local agriculture offices for free, or can be bought from agricultural supply stores. You can also use your kitchen scraps like tomato seeds, squash seeds and sweet potato stalks. The local agriculture office can also give you information on how to take care of your vegetable plants. One may also opt to search online in legitimate sources offering free guides and lectures regarding plant propagation.

Living in an urban area with limited space? No problem! Urban gardening is the answer. Urban gardening is now highly encouraged to increase food security in every urban home.  Urban dwellers can maximize their space by using available containers such empty bottles, gallons, cans, tetra bricks, cellophane, sacks, and among others in exchange to pots. Vertical urban gardens can also be established to lessen space consumption. Urban gardeners can have their garden at their front, back and side yards, rooftops, balconies, patios, walls and fences and other unused areas of the house. This practice is very helpful nowadays to every urban family, especially that they are most likely to become food insecure in this pandemic times compared to those who are living in rural or countryside areas, with more access to land and water for them to grow and cultivate their own food.

Home gardening has so much more to offer especially in these trying times, as we engage to an era of “new normal”. Check some of these significant reasons below:

Offers better nutrition

Food gardens are reliable source of additional food. Since a variety of foods are available, you will get most of your nutrients and need not be scared of micronutrient deficiencies. Fresh foods are also available for your baby for complementary feeding starting at 6 months.

Can be a source of livelihood

Whether you are undergoing self-isolation or in quarantine, on skeleton workforce, laid off from previous job, or unemployed, home gardening can be a good source of income for you! While waiting for opportunities, you can make use of your time by home gardening. This way, so you can reap and eat the fruit of your labor and sell your extra harvests.

Lessen one’s exposure to other people who may be infected with the virus

The usual reason why we go out of our house is for us to buy our basic needs, most especially food. By making food available at home, we can reduce the number of times we go out of our house, therefore lessening our chances of getting exposed to the deadly virus.

Offer fresh and safe foods

Since home gardening requires planting fruits and vegetables just around the house, we can have the luxury of harvesting our plants when we need to, and just according to how much we needed. Since we are the ones eating our own produce, we can decide whether we want to grow our plants in a chemical-free or organic way, keeping quality and safety in mind.

Saves time, money and effort

With food being readily available, you can save some of the money you budgeted for groceries and save time and effort as you no longer have to go to grocery stores or supermarket with very long counter lanes just to buy foods such as fruits and vegetables that you already have at home.

Serves as physical activity

You need not to go to the gym to stay active and fit! By doing daily routines in your garden such as watering and weeding for at least an hour, you can already burn 100-300 calories. Gardening works out parts of your body, too.

Helps relieve stress

Whenever you feel stressed, home gardening is a good health intervention. Gardening reduces depression, anxiety and stress. Problems and cases about mental health increased as lockdown and quarantines were implemented. It is very vital to have something you can divert your attention to.

Having all these benefits while keeping the household food and nutrition secure is already a plus factor in our day-to-day survival. To further enhance food availability, one may also accompany home gardening with small-scale livestock raising to offer more quality protein source to the household such as chicken and duck for meat and eggs, and cow, buffalo, and goat for meat and dairy products, if possible.

Nutrition Cluster Advisory No. 2, series of 2020 on the Recommendations on Healthful and Nutritious Family Food Packs and Sustainable Food Sources, states that “Local Government Units are enjoined to promote the establishment of home gardens. LGUs may distribute seeds, seedlings, through the assistance of the local agriculture office”, the National Nutrition Council Region 10 would like to further emphasize home gardening as an integral way to help generate food security and sustainability particularly during this pandemic times. (PNC Stephanie C. Barrio)