The Philippines Go Organic
By Michael Nolan
In the densely populated Cavite, Philippines, a developer is challenging traditional thinking when it comes to food.
Ciudad Nuevo, a project of First Advance Development Corp., is a 327-hectare housing project that encourages and promotes organic vegetable farming in the hopes of building sustainable communities.
Twenty mothers in Ciudad Nuevo have not only been given the tools to take on such a project but also been trained to do so. Previous projects of a similar nature by the same developer have failed, but with the added benefit of crucial training, these families are well on their way to success.
The residents are taught not only about how to cultivate and plant, but also how to compost and care for their plants. In a short span of time they have realized the tremendous financial benefit of growing their own organic vegetables at home.
What’s more, the project is also educating children who are out of school about organic gardening, keeping them occupied, off the streets and earning money to help their families. One such child, Arcie Cula, was hired by the developer to assist them in cultivating the land for their latest project.
Such crops as sweet potatoes, cassava, ube, string beans, eggplant, tomatoes, banana, malunggay, okra, ampalaya, black beans and upo (many of which I have never even heard of) are now grown in the back yards of families who have never farmed before in their lives.
I can only hope that such leaps of faith are taken by developers around the world as they follow in the footsteps of what I see as a revolution.
