New Stories From 'Urban Agriculture Notes'
Random header image... Refresh for more!

Philippines: Lawmaker pushing for the passage of the proposed Integrated Urban Agriculture Act

Photo shows an urban garden in Barangay San Antonio in Pasig City.

Under the bill, local government units (LGUs) will identify and develop idle government and private lands and buildings, without prejudice to the rights of owners of private lands, buildings and open spaces, within their jurisdiction, for full or partial conversion solely to community gardens, food forest gardens, indoor farms and/or vertical farms to support food security and community nutrition.

By Jovee Marie De La Cruz
Business Insider
July 20, 2022 (Must see. Mike)

Excerpt:

To increase food production, a lawmaker is pushing for the passage of the proposed Integrated Urban Agriculture Act, which seeks to maximize available spaces and utilize emerging agricultural technologies and methods.

In House Bill 72, Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez said the promotion of household-, community- and school-based urban agriculture will contribute to food security and poverty reduction, strengthen community-building and support the National Greening Program.

“Urban agriculture also puts value in otherwise idle urban spaces, maximizing limited land resources that are increasingly shrinking due to rapid urbanization and unsustainable urban development,” he added.

Citing the First Quarter 2022 Survey of the Social Weather Station, Benitez said hunger has worsened from 11.8 percent in December 2021 to 12.2 percent. This translates to 3.1 million families experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months prior to the survey.

The bill covers idle or abandoned government or private lands, buildings, shipping containers, subdivisions or villages, public housing, open spaces in all urban, peri-urban and urbanizable areas in the country; and all available land resources and buildings in schools, state or private universities and colleges, military camps suitable for growing crops and raising poultry, livestock and aquaculture.

However, the bill said the utilization of idle lands for urban agriculture purposes will not be used as grounds for the eviction of informal settler families occupying the lands.

Read the complete article here.