From homelessness to food security

MANILA, Philippines – Gawad Kalinga (GK) recently unveiled its newest food-sufficiency program called Bayan-Anihan, which aims to eradicate hunger by empowering poor families to produce their own food.

Bayan-Anihan executive director Mike Dimagiba said GK families would each be given 10 square meters of arable land where they could plant vegetables like okra, tomatoes, eggplants and kangkong for their own consumption.

“Our vision is to put food on the table. We are committed to eradicate hunger in the Philippines by establishing a sustainable food sufficiency program through multi-sectoral partnerships. Bayan-Anihan is intrinsically part of GK and its approach is a holistic program of poverty eradication. We will leverage with GK’s track record of leadership and brand credibility,” Dimagiba told an audience of Filipino-Americans and academicians during a forum in Boston to launch GK as a global template of poverty alleviation.

“We will produce bounty on idle lands, we will cultivate productivity and self-sufficiency,” he added.

Bayan-Anihan is a multi-sectoral partnership involving GK, the Department of Agriculture (DA), Camarines Sur Governor LRay Villafuerte, John Concepcion of Selecta, Globe Telecoms, Del Monte, local government leaders like Mayors Sonia Lorenzo (Nueva Ecija) and Tito Sarion (Camarines Norte), UP Los Baños and student volunteers from the Agriculture Colleges Association (ACAP).

According to a Social Weather Stations survey done in the first quarter of this year, 15 million Filipinos experienced involuntary hunger. The Philippines was fifth on the World Hunger Survey 2008 of Gallup International, even hungrier than Ghana. Last year, a young mother in Laguna killed her three children by poisoning them before killing herself because of hunger, Dimagiba cited, underlining the importance of addressing hunger in the Philippines.

Bayan-Anihan, Dimagiba said, could provide a solution to the perennial problem of hunger in the Philippines.

“It’s a simple solution to the problem of hunger. Bayan Anihan seeks to impart the culture of productivity by ensuring food security and generating livelihood opportunities for hunger-prone families. Through the development of a self-sufficiency program for people at the grassroots level, it hopes to encourage the community to supply their own food, and to continue this for the next generation,” said Dimagiba, a former executive based in Rome who quit his job to work full time on the Bayan-Anihan program.

Bayan Anihan’s battle cry is “Goodbye gutom (hunger)” and seeks to launch 2,500 farms to feed at least 500,000 people for life.

GK communities have started planting their own vegetable farms all over Metro Manila, the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Autonomous Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Mimaropa.

Each vegetable-growing site will be at least 10 square meters with adequate freshwater source and open pollinated seed varieties will be used to allow replanting of new produce. Types of vegetables to be planted are grouped according to a “recipe mix,” for example vegetables used in pinakbet and sinigang.

“In our research, 10 square meters of land will provide enough food to augment the family’s food requirement, at the same time, it’s small enough for them to manage fairly easily and without a domestic carabao. We expect to harvest 10 kilos of vegetables per 10-square-meter plot per month,” Dimagiba added.

Aside from the family vegetable plots, the GK community will also have a communal planting area for root crops, fruit-bearing trees and medicinal herbs.

To sustain the program, GK residents will be given training on backyard gardening, community farming and other tips in managing their little farms.

There will also be a team to supervise and assist the families in growing their produce composed of a project director, university faculty and student volunteer, a Bayan Anihan officer and on the ground, the kapitbahayan (caretaker) president.

Dimagiba said the Bayan-Anihan program is in tune with GK 2024’s vision of eradicating hunger in the Philippines.

“When 2024 comes, the poor can finally say ‘goodbye gutom’. GK’s Bayan Anihan program will truly empower the Filipino to be self-sufficient. Our vision is to empower communities, transform lives, towards a hunger-free nation, ” Dimagiba said.