DA urges adoption of greenhouse technologies

MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary William Dar is urging farmers’ cooperatives and associations to implement greenhouse technologies that will enable them to protect and raise crops all year-round.

“This is similar to what other countries and progressive farmer-entrepreneurs have been doing, and we want to encourage more farmers through their cooperatives and associations to put up greenhouse facilities,” Dar said.

“With greenhouses, farmers – including entrepreneurs and hobbyists – could produce more crops year-round that are protected from adverse weather conditions. Subsequently, they would earn more income, particularly during rainy or off-season,” he said.

Dar emphasized that Filipino farmers could be better off by adopting greenhouse technologies considering that the country is frequently visited by typhoons.

“Natural hazard is nothing new, especially for us in the Philippines that is visited by an average of at least 20 typhoons in a year.We need to work together in building a strong, resilient agriculture sector to withstand the adverse effects of natural disasters. There are technology options like protected cultivation including greenhouse farming,”Dar said.

“Protected agriculture or simply, the cultivation of crops in greenhouses allows our farmers to grow their crops on small plots overcoming not just adverse weather conditions but also seasonality, water scarcity, and pest infestation,” he said.

Dar emphasized that greenhouse technology is not new since protected cultivation started in the late 1980s.

“But we have not upscaled this technology, enough to sustain our food production and make the sector resilient. One advantage of this technology is that we can ensure a year-round production, allowing our farmers to take advantage of market seasonality and higher prices,”Dar said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said these protective structures can be in the form of low-cost, simple structures using plastic coverings with frames made from wood and bamboo, and galvanized iron pipes.

There are also commercial structures or permanent greenhouses made from glass or plastic coverings with metal frames.

Another technology option that the DA is aggressively promoting is urban agriculture through rooftop gardening, which may bring in additional supply for the various markets all over the country,

“This is part of our continuing efforts to promote urban agriculture amid the pandemic, we encourage residents and building owners to turn their rooftops and available spaces into vegetable gardens that could provide our families steady supply of fresh, nutritious, and affordable food,” Dar said.

According to the DA, rooftop covered with vegetable gardens is now a common sight in many cities around the world.

It said private companies are starting to invest in green roofs, due to its wide-range benefits both for food security and environment concerns.

“The effects of climate change, along with the destruction caused by natural disasters, make it more difficult to ensure food security along with the ever-growing population. Through the upscaling of these technologies, we are addressing food supply brought about not just by natural disasters but still with the looming Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.