Perfecto “Jojo” B. Rom, Jr. - mass

Urban Container Gardening: Household-based Waste Management
and Food Security System
Perfecto “Jojo” B. Rom, Jr.
Advocate for Democratized Agriculture
URBAN CONTAINER GARDENING
A Household-based Waste Management and Food Security System
Project Brief
Introduction
Man in his effort to satisfy his hunger discovered that domestication of animals and the cultivation of
crops are better ways of securing food for his family. Today with the rapid urbanization rate, when there is
not much space to grow crops in the city, we are challenged to find alternative, simple and practical ways
of growing crops. (K. S. Deveza & R. J. Holmer 2002).
The Philippines has gone through extensive urbanization nationwide. The vast expansion dollar-earner
industrial crops (Pineapple and Banana) has deliberately forced small and self-subsistent farmers to leave
their farms by offering them long term leasehold schemes and promise jobs for the children thus making
it a more attractive engagement with the company. In the latest account of Asian Development Bank
(2008), 60% of the country’s population now lives in cities and urban centers. This has given rise to many
urban problems such as slums, garbage, malnutrition, social alienation and exclusion, poverty and food
insecurity.
Today-whether we admit it or not-we are confronted with exorbitant costs of food, especially for
vegetables. Studies say that the average Filipino household spends more than 40% of its income for food
also, while the poorest Filipinos allocate almost 60% of their available household budget to feed their
families (Philippine Association of Nutrition, 1997). What makes an ordinary vegetable cost too high?
Firstly, there are the high production inputs in terms of fertilizers and other agro-chemicals, labor and
transportation. So called organic vegetables, grown without agro-chemicals are even priced higher due to
the increased labor inputs needed and the lower yield usually obtained. Aside from the cost, we here in
the city can seldom avail freshly picked vegetables. This is because most of these vegetables displayed
and sold in the market today were grown from distant places, such as Bukidnon, Claveria and Balingasag
in Misamis Oriental, Marawi of Lanao del Sur, and Benguet of Mountain Province to name a few. (K. S.
Deveza & R. J. Holmer 2002).
The food economy is controlled by only few but big agribusiness operators, having that power and
authority to set the demand and control the supply, the poorest sectors that are now at the brink of
survival and are heavily impacted, since they cannot buy in bulk every time food prices increase.
Container Gardening
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An urban food production system established in a limited space to serve as nutrition garden of the
household.
A household activity that utilizes recyclable containers specifically designed in growing fruits,
vegetables and herbs for family consumption.
It is the cheapest and healthiest way of food production as it utilizes bio-wastes as sources of
fertilizers in growing crops.
The central component in household resource dynamic framework whereby all available and local
resources (including human as represented by household) are integrated in wealth creating activities
thus building household resilience to natural and economic adversities.
It is an advocacy to democratize agriculture empowering families to participate in food production
and ecological sanitation (ECOSAN) right in their backyard.
In this new paradigm, the following is the basic proposition of the Ecological Sanitation as a Philosophy
introduced by Holmer R. J. et. al, 2008 (of PUVeP):
This proposes that if you close the loop between food production and sanitation the food security and
ecological sanitation problem cycle stops.
In the practical application, the above becomes the framework of action in the Household-based Waste
Management and Food Security System in: reducing family expenses on food; the energy cost and the
environmental risk
Benefiting Outcome
When this is practiced in the households:
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Families grow their own vegetables using local available resources like the household biodegradable
waste and the recyclable containers thus growing or production cost will reduce.
Increases family access to fresh food.
Increases productive use of land space and family time
Provide alternative source of income by selling surplus vegetable produce.
By doing so, they will reduce their waste up to 80% thus the so called RA 9003 which is “The
Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000” is implementable right in the household level. Thus
reducing government’s waste disposal expenses, environmental risk and energy by 80%.
The UCG System
The Household Resource Dynamic Flow is a system developed from the author’s interpretation and
understanding of the Ecological Sanitation Philosophy that guided him in realizing some practical
principles in Agro-ecology he learned in school. A system serves as a guide in resource mobilization in
the household level. His short exposure study to the different farming systems in the country of France in
2003 validated HRDF System, he pursue the idea for a couple of years before materializing it in 2007. He
then called the project “Urban Container Gardening-A household-based Waste Management and Food
Security System”
“As I describe this diagram, the
Household
generates
(the
source of) composite waste and
segregates it in 3 major
fractions: the biodegradable
(50%); the non-biodegradable
(50%) which is further divided
into two sub fractions the
recyclable waste (30%) and the
residual waste (20%). All the
arrows suggest the flow of
resources within the home-farm,
integrating
all
components
through their products and byproducts
thus
become
associative
and
functional
support units with each other.
Some other components can be present whenever applicable. This system alone proves that 80% of
household waste can be recovered and can be transformed into resources that create social value (i.e.
food). If each household follow this system, government’s (LGU’s) waste collection and disposal
expenses will reduce by 80% thus savings and can be realigned as additional budget to sustain any other
program/projects related to waste management and food security in a locality.
With his gains from the array of developmental perspectives he advocates Urban Container Gardening as
a strategy to mitigate risks brought about by economic and natural disasters affecting the poor
communities in the urban areas. In 2010, UCG gained recognition from both the communities and
international funders (Swiss Solidarity, HEKS and Christian Aid) when it became the central component of
“Post-Ondoy Livelihood Rehabilitation Project” in Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal.
In that project, 300 beneficiaries organized into one group the ‘Urban Container Gardeners’ and about
900 indirectly benefited through the livelihood opportunities it linked such as the Organic Compost and
the “Tetra-pot” Enterprises . Both subsidiary enterprises are producing products with eco-social values.
They use low cost waste materials at hand and demonstrate environmental action and recycling. (RomHill 2011)
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtqZsxnhnZo) i
• (http://www.asaa.asn.au/publications/ac/2011/asian-currents-11-05.pdf)ii
By the end of 2012 Business Mirror’s five-part series that appeared in the newspaper’s Agriculture page
from August 15-19 2011 entitled “XU graduate practices urban container gardening” was awarded Story
of the Year by the 5th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards. It bested 1,344 other entries.
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XU graduate practices urban farming to answer food issues (part 1 of 5)
Urban container gardening spells hope for licking world-food problem (part 2 of 5)
Urban container gardening may help solve urban-nutrition woes (part 3 of 5)
Urban container gardening empowers households to produce backyard food (part 4 of 5)
‘It is necessary to raise the status of agriculture as a noble profession’ (conclusion part)
At present the survivors of the 2011 tropical storm Sendong (international code name Washi) in Cagayan
de Oro started embracing the project both onsite and in relocation areas covering 5 barangays benefiting
about 86 home-farmers (and expanding) through the UNDP-funded project entitled Women Managed
Urban Farmer Entrepreneurship Project implemented by the Katilingbanong Pamahandi sa Mindanaw
Foundation, Inc. of Balay Mindanaw Group of NGO’s.
PUBLICATION AND RELATED STORIES
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Opportunities from Ondoy: From calamity to social enterprise
Perfecto. B. Rom, Jr. and Ann Hill
Resource Management in Asia Pacific Seminar, Australian National University
24th February 2011
Small Spaces, Big Returns: News from AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center (August 26, 2011)
Featuring: Urban Container Gardening of Perfecto B. Rom, Jr.
‘BM’ wins top 3prizes in Brightleaf awards
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/20218-koica-seeks-govt-approval-to-study-geothermalareas-in-rp.html
ABS-CBN Agritayodito Program “OH MY GULAY” segment on Urban Container Gardening
(June-October 2012)
With PBB Big Winner Ruben Gonzaga(host) and Farmer Scientist Jojo Rom (co-host)
“Changing the World One Pot at a Time” p.82 of m. Magazine-Life and Living in Mindanao Vol.5 No. 4
By Joel B. Escovilla
CBCP News April 20 2013 “Sendong survivors attend hands-on training on urban container gardening”
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/business/agri-commodities/7136-sendong-survivors-train-inurban-container-gardening
Business World Online Jul 21, 2013 “Urban vegetable farming taking shape in South”
Joel B. Escovilla
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Urban-vegetable-farming-takingshape-in-South&id=67386
Contact Details:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Jojo Rom
Facebook Group: Home Farmers Club [email protected]
Mobile Numbers: 0915-4649-581 or 0907-7031-509
UCG COMMUNITY PROJECTS
2009-2010
Post-Disaster Livelihood Rebuilding
Banaba, San Mateo Rizal
Funded by: SWISS SOLIDARITY, HEKS AND CHRISTIAN AID
2012
Women Managed Urban Farmer Entrepreneurship Project 2012
Indahag, Cagayan de Oro City
Funded by: United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
2012-2013
4P’s URBAN CONTAINER GARDENING PROJECT 2012
Organized and Funded by: Committee on Environment of Davao City
COPYLANDIA
Office Systems Corporation
Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
2013
3 MONTHS AFTER
Jojo Rom Residence
Davao City
Present(2013)
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Diversified and Associative Livelihood Video Clip
From calamity to community enterprise (Pages 7-9)
A community enterprise program is helping Metro Manila recover from the devastation of typhoon Ondoy. ANN
HILL and JOJO ROM report.

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