THE House of Representatives approved on second reading, Wednesday, January 27, 2021, House Bill No. 8385, consolidating several bills promoting urban agriculture authored by Third District Representative Francisco Benitez.
Benitez headed the technical working group that produced the consolidated bill, which will mainstream vertical farms, indoor farms and community gardens in cities and urbanizing areas.
The bill stated that about 2.5-million Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months based on the 2019 second-quarter survey of Social Weather Station, of which the higher hunger incidence was recorded in Metro Manila, with 520,000 families experiencing hunger.
According to the Expanded National Nutrition conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, 53.9 percent of Filipino households are food insecure.
To address this, Benitez said it is imperative to introduce game-changing solutions, increasing production by maximizing available spaces and utilizing emerging agricultural technologies and methods, particularly in urban areas where hunger incidence is prevalent.
He added the promotion of household, community, and school-based urban agriculture will contribute to food security and poverty reduction, strengthen community building, support the National Greening Program, and instill among citizens, especially the youth, environmental concerns.
Urban agriculture also puts value in otherwise idle urban spaces, maximizing limited land resources that are increasingly shrinking due to rapid urbanization and unsustainable urban development, Benitez said.