Developing countries, where there is food shortage, use a variety of strategies to achieve food security and food safety.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest of the Philippines in intensifying local food production to mitigate food scarcity and food price volatility brought by the pandemic. A lot of effort was given by the Philippine government through the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached bureaus in empowering communities to establish a home-based food production system. Among the strategies of the Department, through the Agricultural Training Institute, is the Urban Agriculture Program that led urban families established their own vegetable garden and free-range chicken production in their backyards during the 2020 pandemic. Hunger in many communities, particularly in the Ilocos Region, was eased with the aid of the program.

Muslim groups are among the communities in Ilocos Region, specifically in Ilocos Norte, that are adversely affected heightened restrictions because of the pandemic. Their shops and businesses, their source of income, were all closed. At the same time, they had limited access of food since they depend so much on foods that are available in the market.

Concerning this, ATI-RTC 1 and the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) of Laoag, Ilocos Norte collaborated to empower the Muslim groups in producing their own food and make it accessible and available within their community. As such, an On-site Training on Urban Gardening and Edible Landscaping for Muslim Communities was conducted in San Lorenzo, Laoag City on August 23-24, 2021. Starter kits such as vermicompost, vermicast, CRH, Seedling trays, hand trowels, and seeds were provided to them to start their own vegetable garden in their backyards. Subject matter specialists from the certified Learning Sites for Agriculture (LSA) of ATI-RTC 1 and from a private company were the resource persons and facilitators of this training to ensure its objective is met.

“Ang natutunan ko sa training na ito is kung paano ang magtanim ng maayos at gumawa ng abono na hindi gumagamit ng kemikal. Ito’y maituturo din namin sa aming mga anak. Napakaganda nito lalo na ngayong pandemic, hindi napo kami mahihirapang kumuha ng aming uulamin”, stated by one of the participants during the culmination of the training. With this, they asked for more training to further enhance their knowledge and skills about gardening.

Training on Free-Range Chicken Production and Management will also be conducted for the same group before the year ends to complement the established vegetable production in the community.