3/20/2023 0 Comments Most populous cities in us![]() ![]() What the farmers do not take home or sell in markets are sold to the city government, which uses the harvest for other social welfare programmes like feeding and milk-letting projects. "Communities started to see the relevance of having a garden or farm," said Belmonte, who governs over 2.9 million people. Waste from public markets was turned into compost. In villages where land area was scant, residents were taught how to repurpose discarded plastic bottles for container gardening and turn old tires into tower gardens. Idle plots of land in the city were converted into farms. ![]() Ms Belmonte expanded the project when she became mayor in 2019 and had to face the Covid-19 crisis a year later.Įstablishing urban gardens producing nutritious food was the city's response to supply chains that were disrupted by the lockdown. Seed starter kits were initially given to residents. The programme was the brainchild of Belmonte when she was vice-mayor in 2010. GrowQC is a food security initiative designed to address three of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals within Quezon City: hunger, loss of jobs, and physical and mental health concerns. ![]() "This is such a big help for us because instead of having to spend for what we eat, we can just get them from our farms," said Lilio. The city government linked them with markets to sell their produce, a portion of which the farmers would take home. They were trained to till the land and harvest vegetables free of charge. She admits it is not much, but said being able to grow food for her family makes a difference. She earns about 1,000 pesos a month (S$24) selling vegetables. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte teamed up with the Department of Agrarian Reform to convert an empty lot located near Ms Lilio's home into the New Greenland Farm.Ī year later, Lilio is among the over 4,000 urban farmers working across 337 gardens and 10 farms in Quezon City. She signed up for the city's "GrowQC" food security programme in January 2021. She used to grow some vegetables in her small garden in Bagong Silangan, a village in the city outskirts where shanties line the unpaved streets.īut when her husband lost his job as a construction worker due to the lockdown, Lilio knew she had to do more. The 46-year-old mother of four was a housewife when the pandemic struck in 2020. MANILA, Oct 15 (The Straits Times/ANN): Hidden behind the tall skyscrapers and busy highways in the Philippines' most populous city of Quezon is a sprawling 38ha of lush vegetables that helped urban farmers like Miles Lilio survive the Covid-19 pandemic. ![]()
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