The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is currently implementing its innovative Community Generative Action towards Reformative Development Ending Poverty and Hunger (Community GARDEnPH) in three municipalities in Regions CALABARZON, Eastern Visayas, and CARAGA as an additional measure to combat hunger and poverty.
The Community GARDEnPH, which started in 2023, aims to capacitate the members of the community to work together and establish their own communal gardens.
Through the program, hunger issues are expected to be responded to as the produce from the garden provides ample food support for the community.
“Ang pangunahing benepisyaryo ay mga pamilyang mahihirap at mga nakararanas ng involuntary hunger na hindi kasali sa Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Ang mga pamilyang magiging bahagi ng programa ay naninirahan malapit sa lugar ng community garden, walang regular na pinagkakakitaan, at may tatlong anak na wala pang labing-walong taong gulang,” DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said on Thursday (March 27).
The Community GARDEnPH is now being implemented in the towns of Rodriguez in Rizal Province, San Miguel in Leyte, and Tubay in Agusan del Norte. These municipalities were chosen due to the high incidence of food insufficiency based on studies.
Under the program, the beneficiaries are empowered to actively coordinate with their local government units (LGUs), Department of Agriculture (DA), and other stakeholders for technical assistance on agricultural inputs and equipment to further grow their community gardens.
“Maliban sa paglaban sa kagutuman at kahirapan, layunin din ng programa na patatagin ang prinsipyo ng kasipagan, bayanihan, kolektibong pagkilos at pagtutulungan ng komunidad para sa kanilang kaunlaran,” the DSWD spokesperson said.
In Tubay, 20 beneficiaries of the Community GARDEnPH program organized themselves into the St. Anne Sustainable Livelihood Organization. Through the program, the beneficiaries who come from poor farming families were given an opportunity to achieve food security.
The DA, LGU, and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) helped them to successfully cultivate their communal garden by providing equipment and training on gardening and organic fertilizer production.
Asst. Secretary Dumlao said the St. Anne Sustainable Livelihood Organization is now successfully reaping much vegetable produce which are sold in the market and for their own consumption.
The beneficiaries were not only able to address hunger within their families, they are now also earning from their communal garden, according to the DSWD spokesperson. (GDVF)