YOU do not need a huge plot of land to enjoy freshly harvested fruits and vegetables when you can do it at the comfort of your homes.
With a degree in Agriculture, major in Crop Science from Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Jojo Rom has mastered and continued to develop the art of home farming or urban container gardening (UCG).
It may not be familiar to many of us but UCG is something you might want to add to your homes.
“(The) UCG is a food production system established in a limited space to serve as the nutrition garden of the household,” Rom said.
By having your very own UCG, also known as a home farm, a family will have access to freshly harvested vegetables, fruits, and even sources of proteins like chicken, eggs, and fish.
Rom said UCG is an inexpensive yet worthwhile means to produce food.
“It is the cheapest and healthiest way of food production because it utilizes bio-waste as sources of fertilizers in growing crops,” he said, adding that in UCG, families reuse common household implements and wastes, as well as shifting of some habits to grow crops in small spaces.
Aside from crop production, UCG allows families or homeowners to properly manage their wastes.
“Container gardening is the central component in the waste management system of the house,” Rom said.
He said in the waste management system of UCG, bio-agents will convert the bio-solid wastes to liquid and solid fertilizers, which will be reintegrated back to the soil or garden.
In Rom’s house farm, he enlists the help of the Black Soldier Fly worm and the African Night Crawler to convert their bio-wastes into fertilizers they need.
In an ecological perspective, one can see how the UCG serves as an environment where different species are mutually beneficial to one another. The garden of vegetables and fruits supplies the food that we have in our kitchen. The bio-wastes from the kitchen are then fed to the worms, which produces solid and liquid wastes that can now be fermented to fertilizers. These environmentally friendly fertilizers are then given to the plants in the garden and the cycle starts again.
One of the biggest benefits Rom and his family experienced from UCG was on health and finances.
“Naka-benefit sa amo in a sense na wala nay nagsakit sa balay for the last 10 years (One of the benefits we experienced is no one from our household got sick in the last 10 years),” Rom said.
Rom said with a house garden, families will be able to fully enjoy all the nutrients coming from the vegetables and fruits.
He said they are able to save around P12,000 month on food alone. This does not include savings from transportation going to the market and not having to go to the hospital due to illnesses.
Rom started his UCG in 2006 at their rented apartment on the second floor using an empty can of milk. Fast forward to 2019, in their 150-square meter (sqm.) lot in Catalunan Grande, around 80 sqm. has been dedicated for their house farm, including a space for waste management.
The house farm now has some 20 kinds of fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamansi, raddish, lettuce, and ampalaya, among others. He also has a small pond of fish and a small pens for poultry.
Rom said his house farm also serves as a demonstration center and his personal research and development laboratory. Rom regularly updates his knowledge and technology on natural farming and agriculture. These new learnings are either validated or developed at his house farm.
“My mission is to modify it so that people can afford this technology,” Rom said.
At present, he is keen on sharing to others how to start their very own UCG in a bid to make agriculture for everyone. Some of his major clients include Davao artist Kublai Milan and the newly elected Davao City first district representative, Paolo Z. Duterte. Some of his neighbors have also started doing UCG.
“This is a simple technology that even the regular person can do. My work is not to complicate things in order for people to follow. My advocacy is to make it simple so people can love gardening again,” Rom said in the vernacular.
With real estate developers being bullish on developing the lands in Davao into subdivisions and mixed-used complexes, Rom said there will be fewer areas for agriculture, which may strain the food supply.
He said if supply of food will go down, the demand will go up, and the prices of food will go up too. This in turn will add pressure to the agricultural areas to produce more.
Rom said households going into UCG will allow them access food all year round.
“Food security is reachable and attainable,” he said.
“UCG is the project but my advocacy is to democratize agriculture by making it available to everybody even if they do not have an agriculture background,” Rom added.