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Module 4 Introduction to Urban Agriculture

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187 views

Module 4 Introduction to Urban Agriculture

Uploaded by

rasuncion8543
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Module 4.1.

Introduction to Urban
Agriculture
Lesson 4.1 History of Urban Agriculture

Lesson 4.2 An Introduction to Urban Farming, Types, Ideas, and Benefits

Lesson 4.3 Local Systems of Urban Agriculture in the Philippines

Module Overview

This module presents an overview of urban agriculture from beginning and


modern times. It discusses urban agriculture definitions, different ideas we can apply
in starting an urban farming, ideas and benefits we gain in engaging in this program.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, the learner must be able to:


1. Identify the origin of urban agriculture.

2. State the definition of urban agriculture.

3. Discuss the types, ideas and benefits of urban farming.

4. Discuss the urban agriculture as key to food security.

Direction to the Learners

1. Read and understand each lesson first. If you have any questions, kindly
comment it on our Google classroom where the lesson is posted so the
instructor/professor can help you.

2. Answer the assessment and attached your output in our classroom. Note:
Avoid directly answering the quick assessment without reading the lesson first.

Always remember: You will be graded according to these criteria:


Criteria Percentage
Relevance: The student work is related to topic. 30%
Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

Creativity: The student work is unique. It shows creativity 50%


that works; it’s not just weird but exciting.
Punctuality: The student submitted the activity on time. 20%
Total 100%

3. Exams, other references, and status of scores will be announced in our


Google classroom.
4. All submission must be made within our Google classroom. If possible avoid
sending it via messenger.
5. If you have any concerns regarding our subject, kindly email your instructor
during the consultation hours scheduled every Wednesday at 1:00-5:00pm.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

Lesson 4.1 History of Urban Agriculture

Urban Gardening, also known as urban agriculture or urban farming is where


people practice cultivation, mainly of food, in and around urban areas. Basically, it is
the traditional cultivation of crops, but in urban centers. Urban gardening can also
involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry, urban beekeeping, and
horticulture. These activities occur in peri-urban areas as well, and peri-urban
agriculture may have different characteristics.

With urbanization and since more and more people would like to do their
farming where they are, urban gardening is considerably being taken up and has been
a successful alternative a shift from the traditional thinking that the cultivation of
crops can only be done in the rural areas.

Urban agriculture can reflect varying levels of economic and social


development. It may be a social movement for sustainable communities, where
organic growers, “foodies,” and “locavores” form social networks founded on a shared
ethos of nature and community holism. These networks can evolve when receiving
formal institutional support, becoming integrated into local town planning as a
“transition town” movement for sustainable urban development. For others, food
security, nutrition, and income generation are key motivations for the practice. In
either case, more direct access to fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat products through
urban agriculture can improve food security and food safety.

Urban agriculture is experiencing a boost in popularity that started several


decades ago. It’s now recognized and accepted as a way to experience a variety of
environmental, economic, and social benefits. A lot of people — from entrepreneurs
and community leaders to the general public — have taken note.

Origins of Urban Agriculture

The history of urban agriculture dates back to about 3,500 B.C., according to
the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (ASLA) blog. At a symposium of
historians and landscape architects, they discussed how Mesopotamian farmers began
setting aside plots in growing cities.

In the same part of the world about 1,500 years later, the semi-desert towns
of Persia offered one of the earliest pieces archeological evidence for urban food
production. Thanks to urban aqueducts, mountain water was brought to oasis to
produce food using a great deal of urban waste within the settlement.

Two other early examples come from the Western Hemisphere in the 1400s
A.D. A notable instance was the nutritionally self-reliant city of Machu Picchu in Peru.
“Scarce water was reused time and again, step-by-step down the mountain,” urban
agriculture expert Jac Smit wrote in the foreword of the book “Continuous Productive

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

Urban Landscapes.” “Biointensive vegetable beds were designed to catch the


afternoon sun and stretch the season. Water and land crops were brought together to
resist the frequent mountain frost.”

Another notable point in history is from the Aztec civilization. They used
“chinampa,” or floating islands, for farming just outside of cities on lakes, K. Michelle
Glowa noted in “The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies.”
The island became an important part of the Aztecs’ growth when they needed to
support their population, but conquering more land wasn’t feasible.

The History of Urban Agriculture in the Early 21st Century

The precursor to urban agriculture in the 21st century may be the enclosure
movement in England. It foreshadowed the Industrial Revolution, and according to
authors in volume 44 of “Horticultural Reviews,” the movement “divided parishes and
open-access lands with hedges, fences, and walls, wiping out ancient land-use
patterns and excluding peasants from vast tracts of land.” Despite social unrest to
resist the enclosure movement, the rural poor became displaced. Events like the
popular Midland Revolt uprising (and the subsequent Newton Rebellion, which
resulted in 40-50 people killed) led to some concessions, like allotments, which are
public spaces in the city used for food production.

From 1880 to the early 1900s, allotment gardens became a popular way for
European cities like London, Paris, and Stockholm to help the urban poor become self-
provisioning. In peri-urban areas, or land that immediately surrounds a city, poor
families were given land to garden. This idea wasn’t unique to those European cities,
however. Glowa mentioned how several urban planners, designers, and theorist
connected that notion to urban farming. For instance, at the turn of the century,
Ebenezer Howard’s garden city movement included gardens and larger agricultural
fields within walking distance of town. Also, in the 1930s, Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Broadacre City advocated for agricultural uses on each home’s one-acre allotment.

Western governments strongly supported urban agriculture during the two


world wars. Agriculture was developed on land plots started during the Great
Depression, and propaganda campaigns insisted that citizens should “dig on for
victory” in victory or war gardens during the war. At their height, victory gardens
rivaled the production of commercial farms, according to the authors of the
“Horticultural Reviews” article. Support for them went as high up as possible. In
1917, Woodrow Wilson said that “food will win the war,” and during the Second World
War, Eleanor Roosevelt created a victory garden at the White House.

Urban agriculture then experienced a decline. After the war, community


gardens became rarer as populations were redistributed, cities were reorganized, and
most notably, suburbs expanded.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

The result was the separation between food production and urban areas. Urban
agriculture wouldn’t come back into the mainstream until it emerged later in the 20th
century. That began the movement that exists today.

Modern History: A Resurgence in Urban Agriculture

In the 1970s, urban agriculture became connected to social justice and


environmental sustainability.

A contributing factor was post war urban manufacturing. According to the non-
profit online journal Grist, factories left for the South, and later to Mexico and Asia.
High rates of unemployment and residents fleeing urban areas had direct
consequences for landlords, who couldn’t make enough in rent to cover their property
taxes. As the following excerpt from a 1977 Time article demonstrates, landlords
often turned to eviction, arson, and a quick insurance settlement.

Communities took the opportunity to start fresh. They cleaned up the ashes
and planted gardens that could produce fresh foods. Gardening became a way to
rejuvenate urban areas and attract more residents. Plus, it helped with inflation and
environmental concerns of the time.

Community gardens in the ’70s marked the origins of the current renaissance in
urban agriculture. Glowa noted that the true renaissance began in the 1990s when
U.S. cities connected urban farms and gardens to solving food insecurity in the mid-
1990s. Later, urban agriculture became increasingly connected to environmental
justice activism, local food promotion, urban sustainability efforts, community health
campaigns, and food justice activism.

Today, Japan is at the forefront of innovation in urban gardening and farming.


Within the urban sprawl, it’s not uncommon to find rooftop paddy fields and bee
farms, vegetable gardens under the Tokyo metro, and even farms with animals taking
up the entire floor of a skyscraper. Overall, urban farming in Japan has grown by 36%
in the last 10 years.

Now, urban planners, policy-focused organizations, and local governments take


it seriously and recognize the environmental, economic, and social benefits urban
agriculture offers.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

Lesson 4.2 An Introduction to Urban Farming, Types, Ideas, and Benefits

Definition

Urban agriculture is farming in the city and other highly urbanized areas. It is
the growing of crops and raising of livestock in small areas within the city or home
consumption or sale in the neighbourhood markets. It is an activity that produces,
processes, and markets food and other products on land and water in urban areas by
applying intensive production methods by reusing natural resources and urban wastes.
It can be an activity that helps enhance the value and quality of life in terms of
economic and sociocultural aspects by growing plants and animals in various spaces in
urban areas.

Urban agriculture is an industry located within (intra-urban) a town, a city, or a


metropolis, which grows and raises, processes, and distributes a diversity of food and
non-food products (re) using largely human and material resources, products, and
services found in and around that urban area; and in turn, supplying human and
material resources, products, and services.

Types of Urban Farming

1. Backyard Gardens

This is cultivating food in the homeland. Its produce is mostly shared between
friends, family, and neighbors as it typically leads to a harvest surplus. The food can be
preserved and conserved as well. Backyard gardens benefit communities as neighbors can
share each other’s backyard and use different farming methods leading to better yields.

2. Street landscaping

That is the landscaping of streets for various purposes, such as community


gardens, that the local residents prefer to use for. Not only do they make the streets look
beautiful but they also purify the air and creates a clean atmosphere. Because they are
located primarily along the street, their added advantage is their ability to reduce urban
runoff from stormwater.

3. Forest gardening

This relates to the tradition of growing gardens within an urban forest. Forest
planting is accomplished by the production of various crops, vegetables, and fruits in
urban environments. Forests typically provide an atmosphere conducive to crop
production, and for this purpose, they help preserve forests and can render
deforestation a nonfactor in urban settings. Forest planting may also be part of
afforestation activities, which enables trees to be planted as a step towards
mitigating global warming in urban areas.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

4. Greenhouses

This includes agricultural practice in greenhouses in residential, industrial, and


public urban spaces. They need a considerable land area to be set up depending on
the crops being planted. Greenhouses provide farmers with the opportunity to grow a
crop throughout the year as they provide a regulated environment in which the crops
can be exposed to the different conditions needed for production.

5. Rooftop gardens

Since urban areas have limited space, it doesn’t mean that they can’t practice
agriculture. This is where space on the rooftop comes in because they can easily be
used to grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs. The downside of rooftop gardens is that it
can help to minimize urban heat island and enhance the air quality. Apart from these,
gardens on the rooftop can be used to beautify leisure establishments.

6. Green walls

The green wall includes vegetation or food crops growing on a wall’s external
or internal area. It does not take up much room as the system used helps to supply
sufficient water to the food and it uses soil present on the walls. This is a good way to
reduce the runoff from stormwater.

7. Vertical farms

It theoretically entails planting upwards to reduce the footprint of agricultural


property. Green walls may be used as a tool for vertical farms as they often use
limited space and are performed on the vertical wall sides.

8. Animal husbandry

For urban environments, this is the method of rearing animals for food. An
urban dweller may select a suitable location to hold various animal types or focus on
particular animals such as chickens, goats, rabbits, or sheep. Many towns restrict the
number of animals that you can keep and even the type of animals that you can keep.

9. Urban beekeeping

This is a possibility but comes with a lot of local government restrictions and
regulations depending on the location and the town. Which is to
say, beekeeping requirements can vary from city to city. Nonetheless, if done, it does
have a lot of advantages for the local community. Bees are important for the
ecosystem because not only do they produce honey, they also act as pollinators and
promote biodiversity.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

10. Aquaponics

It suggests the tradition in urban areas of rearing marine animals such as fish.
This requires the use of a device that collects rainwater from inside the town and
then produces a self-supporting network of recirculation in tanks or artificial fish
ponds. This is an effective crop rearing process and an alternative protein.

Urban Farming Ideas

Farming in towns and cities is not a recent concept – urban agriculture has (at
least) been around for centuries. What’s fresh about it today are the opportunities
open to urban farmers and the kinds of ways that practically everyone can grow food
for themselves, no matter the nature or size of their house.

Backyard Permaculture

The concept of developing a sustainable ecosystem inside one’s own backyard


is especially common in the suburbs, backyard permaculture is. By combining plants,
animals, and the microclimate, enthusiasts of backyard permaculture seek to create a
healthy environment that provides a place to relax, enjoy, and probably harvest food.

Raise a Few Backyard Chickens

One of the best ways to reduce the reliance on industrial agriculture and the
inhumane conditions in which many chickens and other animals are kept is by making
their own meat imports. Backyard chicken keeping is a common way to get into urban
agriculture quickly and easily without investing a lot of money or having plenty of
room to garden. The amount of eggs and meat provided by chickens needs relatively
little space and is easy to care for.

Container Gardens

Perhaps the most common way for urbanites to participate in gardening,


container gardens are a perfect way to transform a small farm into some outdoor
space or window room. Without much time or effort, urban farmers may grow many
fresh vegetables and herbs for themselves simply by using containers as a place to
plant food crops. There are no legal hoops to go through and there are readily
available resources and information for help.

Patio Gardens

The patio garden, an extension of the container garden, is typically similar but
on a much larger scale. Many apartments and condominiums have patios that look out
over the neighbourhood and have clear access to sunshine, most importantly. These
can be transformed into small gardens that grow all kinds of produce. Many patio

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

gardeners combine hanging pots and containers to create a three-dimensional urban


farm on their deck.

Polyculture for Small Gardens

Anyone with very little room to grow food would possibly use polyculture as a way to
increase crop yields and diversity. Simply put, polyculture is the combining of plants within a
garden to provide several plants (and crops) at once. For example, growing lettuce at the
foot of corn plants will provide both commodities in a small space. The same allows for the
combination of climbing plants on a trellis with bush-type plants at the trellis’ foot. This
intensive approach provides high yields for small spaces, which requires a great deal of soil
input to make it fertile enough for the plants.

Compost

Composting can be achieved almost anywhere and through composting, most kitchens
can save 30 percent or more of their garbage. Outdoor conventional compost bins will hold
the garden full of nutritious soil additives. And those indoors can use composters designed to
go under the counter by vermicompost (worms) and kitchen composters. There are plenty of
choices and composting is the most organic, sustainable way of building soil for any garden
form.

Beekeeping

For urban farmers, another common alternative is to keep bees. Many have
beehives on the rooftop, hives on the back yard and flower gardens, and more pop up
nationally as people embrace this way of getting fresh, healthy honey.

Benefits of Urban Farming

Urban farming has a lot of advantages, not only for those involved but also for
the local city.

Urban Farming Provides Food Security

Organic produce is not cheap in grocery stores. A large number of families


can’t even afford to purchase organic food. Food protection means giving people
access to healthy and appropriate nutritious food for their families around the world.
Urban farming offers families greater access to food security. This also provides
people with a way to add to their profits without wasting too much on capitalization.
Urban agriculture makes food sustainable so more people can access it.

Urban Farming Creates a Sense of Belongingness

Living in the town is fast. Nearly everybody is on the move and there is barely
any room for people to mingle and chat with neighbours. Urban farming is an
important way to bring together urban dwellers — like community planting, urban

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

farming brings a sense of belonging to most marginalized people within the city. It’s a
perfect way to put together like-minded people for a major cause.

Urban Farming Promotes Public Health

Cities have a growing population, and people suffering from obesity and other
diet-related health problems are frequently found. Urban farming beings offer local
populations affordable and safe food. This helps the community’s people battle life-
threatening conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Urban agriculture
is also a healthy form of exercise and also promotes health and wellbeing.

Urban Farming Reduces Carbon Emissions

Localizing the source of a product helps to reduce the fossil fuel consumption
required for processing, transporting, and selling food products. A typical meal has to
fly from the farm to the table 4,200 miles away. Urban farming reduces the carbon
footprint, as well as being affordable.

Urban Farming Introduces Innovative Techniques

Urban farmers face the challenge of finding creative solutions to address urban
farming challenges such as land, capital, electricity, and waste, in a city space that
lacks large open, fertile grounds conducive to agriculture. Innovative farming methods
are implemented to help farmers grow products without losing quantity and quality.

Urban Farming Creates Jobs

Urban agriculture is a growing market. As it rises, it offers additional


employment opportunities for city dwellers, particularly in areas where poverty and
hunger are rife. The local economy is also boosted by small enterprises engaged in
urban agriculture.

Urban Farming Creates Green Spaces

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about urban areas is the tall
buildings and massive infrastructures. Evidently, urban areas lack green spaces, which
significantly influence an area’s climate and environment. Urban farming enables
green spaces to be built which adds a great aesthetic appeal, provides calming and
relaxing spaces, and reduces precipitation. Green spaces also mitigate the heat island
effect by trapping carbon by photosynthesis.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

Lesson 4.3 Local Systems of Urban Agriculture in the Philippines: Its


Beginning and Status
Poverty and food security are the most pressing problems that government has
to address with urgency. Cognizant of these problems, the present administration has
set its focus on food security and poverty alleviation as a basic goal and a priority
agendum.

In the Philippines, agriculture is concentrated in rural areas. Urban places are


just favorite market outlets of the products of rural agriculture. At times, artificial
shortages of rural agriculture products are felt in urban centers owing to market
strategies or for other reasons to include preference of traders to market the
products when they could obtain more handsome profit.

Urban agriculture seems to be the logical approach to easing problem of food


scarcity in centers of population. It means the production of food or agricultural
products is done within the confines of the cities, which may also include population
centers in bustling towns. Families or organized groups do in and around homes, open
community or public spaces even in rooftops the production in available spaces.

Lastly, establishing an urban agriculture project or container farming could


provide nutritional and economic benefits to urban residents as well as to the quality
of life for millions or urban residents and foster a sense of achievement and hope.

Review of past Philippine Urban Agriculture Efforts

The term urban agriculture has surfaced in cursory discussions among the
members of the administrative council of the Cavite State University (CvSU), then Don
Severino Agriculture College (DSAC), as early as 1990. CvSU research and
development activities focused on multi-storey farming systems with coconut and
coffee base crops. With limited land area available for large scale farming, the
college opted to develop nursery management for ornamentals, rapid propagation of
orchids, greenhouse management of high value crops and vegetables, and the
development of native chicken. It may be noted that these are some components of
urban agriculture.

It has also been observed that muscovy duck can thrive on droppings of poultry
with very little feed supplement. The recycling of chicken manure for fish feed is not
new. This practice has been observed in some small poultry farms in Laguna during
the early 1980s where the structures are built above tilapia or catfish ponds.
However, the psychological impact to consumers has contributed to the demise of the
practice.

In the 1990s, a systematic approach to urban agriculture was introduced in


Quezon City with its Urban Agriculture Program conceptualized by the Bureau of
Agricultural Research. The program aimed to develop technologies on the raising and

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

use of crops, livestock and fish in the urban setting. Such technologies included
conversion of biodegradable solid wastes into humus or compost, recycling of waste
water, integrated pest management, and use of organic or herbal pesticides, among
others (Morcozo, Technotrends 4, 1995).

The College of Agriculture of the University of the Philippines (UPLB) created a


committee on Urban Agriculture Research and Development in 1995 to apply the
principles of agriculture in producing food in the urban environment while enhancing
its surroundings (UPLB-CA Workshop Proceedings on Urban Agriculure, 1995). A 1995
planning workshop laid down the foundation for the development of a research and
development framework for urban agriculture. The research and development
framework stressed on sustainable production, productivity enhancement, product
quality evaluation in contaminated urban environment, post harvest handling of
commodities grown in urban areas, urban waste management and utilization,
horticulture, policies affecting the practice of urban agriculture, greening, and
marketing studies.

As reported by Duldulao (2001), urban agriculture has been practices even


before we had term for it. In fact it was observed being practiced in the cities of Las
Piñas, Parañaque, Pasay, Quezon City and in the cities in other parts of the country.
Simply, urban agriculture is farming in the cities and other highly urbanized areas. It
became a national program in 1998 when Acting Agriculture Secretary William Dar
instructed then Region IV Director Conrado Gonzales to include urban agriculture as
one of the programs of the Department of Agriculture in Region IV. This was formally
the birth of the Urban Agriculture Program in the Philippines.

In response, Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City was identified as the pilot area
representing a city in Metro Manila and Barangay Sto. Toribio, which is along the
railroad tracks in Lipa City representing on urban area in the province. A UAP task
force was formed at DA Region IV to implement the projects. These two projects
succeeded in demonstrating the feasibility of urban agriculture.

Then, in 1999 a model of urban agriculture dubbed as Receptacle Farming was


established in Central Luzon State University in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva
Ecija. From this model, similar models were conceptualized and replicated in
selected areas of Metro Manila such as Quezon City, Makati City, Muntinlupa City, Las
Piñas City, Navotas and Malabon, to name a few. Likewise, it was also replicated in
selected cities and municipalities of the province of Nueva Ecija through the funds
granted by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) amounting to two thousand US
dollars (US$ 2,000).

Business opportunities in urban agriculture

Without stretching the mind too far, urban agriculture can mean big business
opportunities to more enterprising ones.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

The growing media for the plants can be prepared and sold to those who need
them in case the city dwellers want to have them readily available. This can be
composed of soil mixed with compost, soil and rice hull or sawdust, or garden soil
from the riverbanks.

Urban gardening in the Philippines ranges from planting crops in recyclable


containers and backyard gardening to commercial production. Vegetable crops are
grown in recycled tin cans, plastic containers, earthen pots, vats, styrofor fruit boxes,
bamboo poles, and water basins and placed in the yard patio, doorstep, rooftops, and
windowsills (Fig. 4.1). And of course, the produce in urban agriculture can be sold to
the public.

Fig 4.1. Container gardening in rural areas

Present status of urban agriculture in the Philippines

During the previous year, the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have
been felt by people globally. In the Philippines, the community quarantine in the
world has been imposed. Although the quarantine has been placed for the benefit of
the people, it has also provided new challenges that threatened how people live. It
cost countless Filipinos their source of livelihood and limited their mobility, which
also obstructed food from reaching the various points in the country.

To solve this ongoing problem of food insufficiency, the Department of


Agriculture (DA) has intensified its campaign to promote urban agriculture through the
help of private sector despite challenges brought about by the coronavirus disease
2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Doing something for urban agriculture

Urban agriculture is a feasible, adaptable, adjustable and expandable project.


Big cities of the world have it.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

In 2001, the National Integrated Research and Extension Program for Urban
Agriculture was formed under the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural
Research (DA-BAR). Through the Special Order No. 111, Series of 2001 issued by then
DA-BAR Director, Dr. Eliseo R. Ponce on May 24, 2001; a Technical Working Group
(TWG) for the Urban Agriculture National Research, Development and Extension (RDE)
was created.

The components of the program are the following:

1. Agricultural Research and Development

1.1. Benchmark Socio-Economic


Studies Benchmark socio-economic studies will be conducted to set the
baseline before the program.

1.2. Biotechnology and Varietal Improvement


Existing varieties of crops and breeds of animals will be screened and new ones
developed that can successfully adapt to the urban environment.

1.3. Cultural Management


This will involve the development of appropriate crop production techniques
including vertical agriculture, hydroponics, bio-intensive gardening and
greenhouse farming suited for urban setting. It will also deal with animal
management practices for those types of animals that are highly productive but
require little space for housing.

1.4. Pest Management


This will focus on developing management strategies against common pests and
diseases affecting crops and livestock. It will also include strategies by which
the occurrence of pathogens can be avoided in an urban setting.

1.5. Postharvest/Processing
This will include studies on processing/packaging of plant and animal products
to prolong their shelf life and add value to the products.

1.6. Waste Management


This will focus on composting and treatment of agricultural and household
wastes, recycling of water for irrigation purposes, and wastewater treatment.

1.7. Agricultural Engineering


This will involve the design of space-saving planting platforms, efficient
rainfall-supplied drip irrigation/fertigation systems and other cost-and space
efficient urban farming machinery and structure.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

1.8. Urban Forestry


Trees/plants that can indicate as well as absorb pollution and species that can
be used as food, fuel, and medicine will be identified and tested.

2. Organization, Training and Extension

2.1. Institutional and Human Resource and Development


Manpower development efforts will be pursued to strengthen the capabilities of
both program implementers (e.g., researchers, extension workers, and
trainers) and beneficiaries (e.g., cooperative members and farmer-leaders).
This will also involve the improvement of existing facilities as well as
acquisition of new facilities in the host institutions in order to support the
implementation of the program. This will include among others the
strengthening of service laboratories.

2.2. Piloting of Technologies


The urban agriculture technologies generated through research will be piloted
in the program areas.

2.3. Establishment of Demo Farms


Demonstration farms will be established in strategic locations, particularly in
urban areas to serve as showcase of urban agriculture technologies. The Cavite
State University’s existing Training and Demonstration Farm will be expanded
to demonstrate urban agriculture technologies.

3. Planning and Land Use Management

3.1. Identification of Areas for Urban Agriculture


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

3.2. Identification of General Agricultural Land Uses


Land capability and land suitability maps will be obtained and assessed to
identify suitable agricultural crops or crop types based on physical
characteristics.

4. Market Development

4.1. Market Studies


Market studies including supply and demand projections will be undertaken to
establish the level of supply coming into the urban areas, the consumption of
urban consumers, and the potential impact of the program on the urban supply-
demand situation. The study will also determine the acceptability of consumers
to the use of urban agriculture technologies in food production.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

4.2. Marketing Assistance


Marketing assistance will be provided to cooperatives to ensure the efficient
marketing of produce.

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Module 4.Introduction to Urban Agriculture

References

Dane, K. (2020). An Introduction to Urban Agriculture. https://agriculturegoods.


com/urban-farming/

History of Urban Agriculture.https://online.aurora.edu/history-of-urban-agriculture/

Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and
Development. Urban vegetable production in the Philippines. Los Banos, Laguna:
PCARRD-DOST, 2007. 96p.-(Book series No. 176/2007)

https://www.fftc.org.tw/htmlarea_file/activities/20110719103448/paper-
947796964.pdf

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