“Food is literally the most important thing in the world. It is not even next to life, because it is life itself. Deprived of the right to food, man knows no other. For the hungry, there is no dignity, no human rights, no rule of law, no liberty, no celebration of the spirit… the most crucial task before world community today is to assure that enough food is available at the right place, at the right time, and at the right price.”
—Arturo R. Tanco, Jr., former president of World Food Council
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Hunger has been an issue since time immemorial. Even during the time of the new era of Christianity, hunger was already prevalent. Romans 12:20 stated, “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Saint Matthew in Chapter 5, verse 6, also wrote “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Hunger and malnutrition are interconnected yet separate concepts. Hunger is characterized by consuming less energy than is necessary to sustain an active and healthy lifestyle. The proportion of undernourished individuals serves as the primary measure for food security and nutrition, as indicated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Malnutrition encompasses deficiencies or surpluses in nutrient consumption, an imbalance of vital nutrients, or ineffective nutrient utilization. Nutrition specialists categorize undernutrition into three types: acute hunger, chronic malnutrition or stunting, and hidden hunger.
Malnutrition is one of the country’s biggest health problems, particularly among the young ones. Based on a survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in 2015, chronic malnutrition is at its worst in 10 years and this may get worse unless necessary steps are soon taken.
The FNRI data showed chronic malnutrition rate among children aged zero to two was at 26.2%, the highest in 10 years. From 2013 to 2015, 10% of stunting children increased to an average of 40% and is expected to increase in the coming years.
A World Bank report said micronutrient undernutrition is also highly prevalent in the country: 38% among infants six to 11 months old; 26% among children 12–23 months; and 20% of pregnant women are anemic. Nearly 17% of children aged 6–59 months suffered from vitamin A deficiency (2018), of which children aged 12–24 months had the highest prevalence (22%) followed by children aged six to 12 months (18%).
More and more Filipinos are expected to experience hunger as the population continues to grow. In 1980, the Philippines was home to 48 million Filipinos. In 2000, the number swelled to 78 million. Today, there are more than 100 million people inhabiting the country.
Some years back, the Philippines was listed by FAO as one of the 13 low-income food-deficit countries in Asia (“those that do not have enough food to feed their populations and for the most part lack the financial resources to pay for imports”).
“In many developing countries, rapid population growth makes it difficult for agricultural production to keep pace with the rising demand for food,” wrote Don Hinrichsen in a report published by Population Reports. “Most developing countries already are cultivating virtually all arable land and are bringing more marginal land under cultivation.”
Jacques Diouf, at the time when he was the director-general of FAO, echoed the same concern. “Population growth continues to outstrip food availability in many countries,” he pointed out during the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome.
Food security
This alarms experts so much that the concept of food security came into existence. FAO defines it as a “state of affairs where all people at all times have access to safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.”
People are said to experience lack of food security when “either they cannot grow enough food themselves, or they cannot afford to purchase enough in the domestic marketplace.” As a result, “they suffer from micronutrient and protein energy deficiencies in their diets.”
Grace Poe, when she was still a senator, contends that without sufficient nutrition, children’s motor development slows down and their cognitive skills become stunted. “And this has a long-term negative impact on the development of our human capital. We cannot build the foundation of our future on emaciated bodies who are no longer in school. No nation on Earth can,” she decried.
Through FAITH
When American agricultural missionary Harold Ray Watson came to the Philippines in the mid-1960s and became the director of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc., he observed that most members of Filipino farmers were malnourished. He was surprised to note that most housewives still went to public markets to buy necessary vegetables.
“Vegetables are essential in the fight against malnutrition,” Watson said. “They are important for maintaining a healthy diet and are rich in vital nutrients. In addition, some vegetables can enhance immunity and aid in the prevention of malnutrition.”
Watson held the belief that in order for Filipino farmers to effectively carry out their responsibilities, they must be adequately equipped physically. The same applies to their spouses and children. To achieve this goal, it is essential for them to have vegetable gardens capable of meeting their daily requirements.
“Home gardening,” wrote Enriquetta B. Torres in Research at Los Banos, “can reduce by about 20% a family’s total daily food expenditures.”
Being a church minister (he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary before he came to the Philippines), there was a better way of harvesting vegetables throughout the year by having gardens in their backyard.
“The fight against malnutrition and hunger can be won right in the homeyard,” Watson pointed out who, in 1985, was bestowed the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding for encouraging international utilization of the farming systems which he and his Filipino counterparts developed at the MBRLC.
This can be accomplished by adopting FAITH. Hebrews 11:1 states: “Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.”
Actually, FAITH stands for Food Always In The Home. Even though Watson has retired and returned to the United States for good, the technology he developed for Filipinos remains highly relevant.
“With minimum capital and lots of native enterprise, FAITH gardens can assure a family of a steady supply of nutritious food – and even extra income,” says Jethro P. Adang, the current director of MBRLC.
In addition to supplying food, this unconventional approach of vegetable gardening can also lessen a farmer’s significant dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which present health risks and cause damage to the environment.
“FAITH is a type of vegetable gardening that can provide the necessary protein, vitamins and mineral requirements needed by a family with six members,” Adang points out. “We designed it in such a way that it requires minimum labor.”
As indicated by its name, vegetables – along with some fruits – will be available throughout the year if the suggested planting guidelines are adhered to. According to research, the garden can yield 300 grams (equivalent to one bowl) of fresh vegetables each day.
The ideal size for a FAITH garden is six by sixteen meters. It is essential to choose the most fertile section of the backyard for this type of garden. This area should be rich in humus, which serves as a nutrient source for plants. The soil types suitable for vegetable gardening include loam, silt-loam, or clay loam.
“Establish the garden on a light slope to provide drainage, especially during the rainy season,” Adang says. “If the area is flat, dig drainage channels or ditches around the planting site. The garden site must also receive sunshine throughout the day as growing plants need sunshine to manufacture food.”
In addition, the garden site should be located near water sources. “Water is very important particularly during the dry season,” the MBRLC director explains. “During rainy season, however, canals must be built to drain the water out from the garden plots.”
The garden is equally divided into three sections, with half of each section reserved for future replanting. One section is dedicated to short-term vegetables that will be ready for harvest in two to four months. Examples include soybeans, tomatoes, pechay, cowpeas, bush sitao, radish, and sweet corn.
The second section is allocated to crops that can yield vegetables for six to nine months, including ampalaya, okra, onions, garlic, eggplant, winged beans, golden squash, alugbati, and ginger.
The third section is utilized for vegetables that will produce for 11 to 12 months, such as patani, kulitis, sayote, kangkong, camote, gabi, cassava, and kadios.
Along the garden’s boundary and throughout the year, both permanent and semi-permanent crops are cultivated. These include malunggay, papaya, pineapple, calamansi, and guava.
To serve as fences, nitrogen-fixing species such as Flemingia macrophylla, Desmodium rensonii, Gliricidia sepium (locally known as “kakawate”), and Indigofera anil are planted; these species can also serve as sources of green manure.
Basket composts
The central feature of FAITH gardening involves basket composts, which consist of a series of elevated garden beds designed to accommodate bamboo baskets approximately one foot in both diameter and depth. These baskets are filled with small amounts of animal manure, particularly from goats, along with some decomposed organic waste, and are packed with leaves from leguminous trees and shrubs.
In cases where creating basket composts proves to be too labor-intensive, trench composts can be an alternative option.
In the absence of manure, the leaves from leguminous trees and shrubs, such as flemingia, rensonii, kakawate, and/or indigofera, can be utilized. These leaves are packed into the basket or trench composts to supply the necessary nitrogen and other nutrients essential for the growth of crops.
“You can immediately use the composts without waiting for the usual three to four months period as is necessary in the old method of composting,” Adang points out.
However, the timing for planting seeds or seedlings around the basket or trench composts is contingent upon the decomposition status of the materials within the composts. “If the materials at the bottom are nearly decomposed, seeds and/or seedlings can be planted immediately,” Adang says. “However, if the majority of the materials remain fresh, planting should occur two to three weeks later.”
As with most gardening practices, effective management is essential. The designated areas must be planted timely to ensure a continuous supply of vegetables throughout the year.
Given that camote, alugbati, and kangkong are creeping plants, they should be cultivated in separate beds measuring one meter in width and six meters in length, with a spacing of 50 centimeters between the beds. The plants should be positioned 20 centimeters apart.
“Leafy vegetables are high in iron, calcium, vitamin A, and other minerals,” Adang says.
For patani and winged beans, two to three seeds per hill are planted around the basket composts. These two legumes are the main providers of proteins. Other plants which are good sources of protein are soybeans, string beans, and bush sitao.
Some crawling vegetables like cucumber, ampalaya, and patola should be provided with trellis; otherwise, the vines will become a problem later on.
“With malnutrition becoming a big problem now in the Philippines, it is high time for Filipinos to grow vegetables in their home yards by following the FAITH technique,” Adang says.
Proliferation of FAITH gardens
In 2020, vegetable gardens flourished in Mindanao as part of the FAITH program, initiated by the Department of Education in the Davao Region. This initiative encouraged personnel within the division to embrace it due to its “positive implications,” advocating for the use of any available spaces for gardening and food production.
Prior to this, during Joey Lina’s tenure as governor of Laguna, the FAITH garden was created on a demonstration farm located behind the Provincial Capitol building. Staff from various government units received training there and subsequently replicated the initiative.
“We have limited space in our home, yet we have successfully planted vegetables in our front yard,” says Jeannyline T. Arriaga, a mother of two. “Instead of purchasing tomatoes, okra, eggplant, and other vegetables from the market, we simply harvest them from our garden. Additionally, we are assured that the food we consume is free from pesticides since we grow it ourselves.”
Some of her neighbors are following suit.
