UNDP calls for agri projects in public schools, backyards

MANILA, Philippines - To ensure sufficient food supply for Filipinos, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) called on Philippine officials to turn public schools into alternative sources of food production.

Renaud Meyer, UNDP country director, said local governments as well as civic groups should look into the possibility of establishing similar food production systems elsewhere in the country.

“The poor are always the first to suffer from disruptions in the flow of food supply. The SAPAT program provides a solution by affording impoverished families the assistance they need to raise vegetables, root and tuber crops, and native chicken in backyards and communal gardens,” Meyer said. At the community level local officials and civic groups can start food production projects for the poor in backyards and public schools.

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Domingo Panganiban said that while the government has commenced an P882 million program to mitigate the effects of El Niño on Filipino farm and fisheries sectors, reports of mounting damage to agriculture across the country indicate a serious risk of increased hunger among the poorest of the poor.

He said farmers in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and Saranggani have already issued formal requests for assistance from the national government in the face of the prolonged dry spell. 

“The last El Niño was in 2006, and it was considerably milder than what the country is experiencing now. Yet the Social Weather Stations (SWS) had reported a sharp increase in the incidence of hunger among Filipinos toward the end of that year,” Panganiban disclosed.

He said the national government is now working to expand a UNDP-funded program designed to establish sustainable food production systems for the poor at the community level. 

“The success of the NAPC-UNDP ‘Sapat at Masustansyang Pagkain sa Bawa’t Tahanan’ (SAPAT) project in Abra and Kalinga provinces has encouraged plans for expansion projects in Pangasinan and Metro Manila.