Urban Container Gardening

There have always been ideas so ingenious that you can’t help but to let your jaw drop the very moment you consider them. I was just pacing through my afternoon routine in school when this sort idea, the ingenious kind that I’ve mentioned earlier, hit right through me.

It was on the 9th of September when I attended a seminar regarding Urban Container Gardening. The seminar was initiated by our Professor in Environmental Science, Engr. Ernani Villasencio. It was a requirement for our subject and I was left without a choice but to attend. I came at the venue a bit late that I didn’t make it to the part where the speaker was introduced. So, I googled his name and it appeared to be Engr. Perfecto ‘Jojo’ Rom. He mentioned that he graduated in Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in Ateneo de Cagayan University and that his work about Urban Farming was known internationally as an efficient way to maximize agriculture in urban places.

He started his presentation by showing us slides of pictures after pictures that pinpoint subtopics in connection to its main topic. I was nailed down listening and digesting his wise and witty points. He tackled about farmers and how they suffered because of undeveloped agricultural methods in our country. I’ve seen corns with fungi in the presentation. They were yields that are not marketed because of pests. The presence of pests in crops is only one of the many problems that farmers encounter nowadays. The lack of efficient method in delivery due to rural routes that are not yet fully developed and financial support from our government were also added to their problems. Because of the cited problems, a lot of our farmers were force to shift chores and venture upon fields where the easy gain of money is an utmost pursuit. There were farmers shown who ended up being loggers, rebels, and men who make charcoals for a living. I empathized with their condition. It was sad to know that our government was just allowing some aristocrats to scarce small farmers from their basic supplies of goods so that they can get advantage by forcing these small farmers to use their packaged products. I wonder not anymore why our agriculture industry is struggling.

The effects of our struggling agriculture industry to our society were now evident. Flash floods and landslides in some places of the country where also shown in the presentation, like what had occurred in Davao City recently. Trees that hold soils and water together appeared into view as they are needed to prevent these calamities from happening. Due to industrialization and illegal logging (some of the people behind this were farmers before) myriads of trees were cut down. It could have been better if massive tree planting are implemented after some large areas were dilapidated by these trees, but based on observation, only a fraction of tree planting programs were done. The aftermath was a picture of scattered garbage and junks. From this, improper waste management then entered the scene which is also a major problem that has its drastic effect in the environment.

The presented flow led us to conclusion that we, people, have great hold on the events happening around us. If only we could have been better caretakers of our environment, natural calamities would not be as worse as what we’re experiencing now. We could do better than what we are doing now. Such would certainly lead to a better society as well as a better life for each one of us. In lieu to this, ways to improve our capabilities in taking care of the environment are trending in. We need ideas, ingenious ideas, about ways to help the environment as well as benefit ourselves from the process. Urban Container Gardening, which was the main topic of the presentation, is one of the few best ideas ever made.

Urban Container Gardening (UCG) refers to overcoming the restrictions of a metropolis and creating gardens in homes, no matter the size or lack of ‘natural space’. This idea from Rom teaches households and individuals to contribute to the Philippines’ food security program, as well as ecological sanitation and environmental protection through urban farming. UCG is a very promising way of supplying city dwellers with affordable and nutritious food. Some of the advantages are that biodegradable waste can be reused as fertilizer and contribute to overall urban environmental management.

2010-12 - Jojo ROM's yard with a lot of vegetables growing in bottles and other recycled containers. Jojo had built, right over a small pond, a wooden stand on which more bottles were to be placed, thus enhancing production in the smallest space (Photo Jojo Rom)http://desertification.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/small-yard-container-gardening-to-be-multiplied-for-all-the-hungry-jojo-rom-willem-van-cotthem/

“UCG can be done even if someone has no space in his/her house for a garden. “Instead of planting flowers and putting them on your window sills or on the side of walkways and hallways, you can plant vegetables and spices. And every morning, you’ll just have to get some fresh leaves from your ‘garden’ and have a nutritious salad,” he said. “Since veggies should be fresh when consumed and often refrigeration is a [cost] limitation, production of veggies near the places they are consumed is an advantage.

Urban farmer Perfecto “Jojo” Rom, an Agriculture graduate of the Xavier University- Ateneo de Cagayan de Oro, plants vegetables in plastic containers in his backyard in Davao City.(Photo by D. Fabe)

This doesn’t mean that production of veggies in rural areas must not be done, but urban gardening is a very promising way of supplying city dwellers with affordable and nutritious food. Some of the advantages are that biodegradable waste can be reused as fertilizer and contribute to overall urban environmental management,” Holmer said through e-mail.

Fruits and vegetable grown through UCG are also 100 percent free from harmful chemicals because they are grown organically, using the household’s own bio-wastes as fertilizers through composting. “Even one’s own urine can be used as organic liquid fertilizer. But this should be mixed with other bio-waste like rice wash in a strict proportion,” Rom said.” - 
http://businessmirror.com.ph/component/content/article/53-agri-commodities/15099-xu-graduate-practices-urban-farming-to-answer-food-issues

I was totally amazed by the presented process of UCG. It was like a total brain wash that I couldn’t think of anything more precise and efficient to produce a healthy urban environment than that of the UCG way, provided that people are found cooperating. I was left daydreaming for a while about having my own home and implementing UCG which flooded my mind with a lot of green, the kind that goes with plants of course, not the nasty kind of green. Lol. It was not a shock also that my classmates were inspired to do the same as we gathered discussing about UCG after the presentation. Not only did the agriculturist in each one of us was awakened, but also the part which wants to help the environment by doing the basics. We were reminded to do the proper disposal of wastes as well as its segregation. I was also excited about our incoming Tree Planting Activity as this, surely, will not only help the environment, but also help us to becoming better care takers of it.

Ideas such as UCG would only be equal to nothing if required actions will not be taken. I’m buying this idea and I’m hoping that the message behind it would accompany me as I follow Sir Rom’s example.