Senator Cynthia A. Villar asked Filipino households to turn to “urban agriculture and home gardening” to meet the increasing food demand of a swelling population.
The senator said she herself had been practicing urban agriculture and home gardening at her residence in Las Piñas City for “instant food supply” at her home.
As presiding chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, Villar vowed to further “promote urban agriculture and home gardening in the households.”
“Mahalaga sa ating mag-papalay ang pagkakaroon ng cash crop habang naghihintay ng pag ani, at ito ay ang pag tatanim ng gulay, pagdikit nito sa mamimili, at pagsunod sa good agricultural practices o GAP.”
Moreover, the lawmaker said the Villar family has four farm schools located in Las Piñas-Bacoor; San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan; San Miguel, Iloilo; and Davao City.
She added that she has also been distributing vegetable seeds nationwide for free to be used for home gardening.
“This will ensure the availability of affordable and nutritious foods for Filipino families. This can also provide livelihood since the products are brought to the market.”
At the same time, the senator recalled that she was also an organic practitioner in Las Piñas City since 2002, noting that “to date, there are 89 composting facilities in almost all the barangays in Las Piñas and 50 in Vista Land and Camella communities nationwide.”
She noted that “a composting machine can produce 1,000 kilos of organic fertilizer per month from kitchen and garden wastes from 500 households in Las Piñas City.”
This activity called “Villar Las Piñas Kitchen Wastes Composting Project” won the Energy Globe Award, an international award for environmental sustainability. She reported it was also recognized as the “World’s Best Environmental Project in 2022” during a ceremony in Austria.