Pinoys’ vegetable consumption half the world average

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino family only consumes 60 kilos of vegetables annually, compared to the average 120 kilos in other countries, former agriculture secretary William Dar said yesterday as he pushed for urban farming in Metro Manila.

During the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City, Dar added that the Department of Agriculture (DA) should allocate more budget for urban farming.

“All these years, the Filipino diet became westernized, there is what we call westernization of the Filipino diet. Few young Filipinos eat vegetables. The need to eat more vegetables should be included in the curriculum, from primary, elementary, senior high school. The attitude has to be changed, that it is much healthier to eat vegetables and fruits, rather than western food,” Dar said.

While urban farming was introduced during his stint as secretary of the DA in 2020, the budget allocated for the program should be increased, he added.

According to Dar, urban farming is necessary as an alternative food source as the country is hit by at least 20 typhoons annually. Benguet, being the vegetable capital of the country, could not keep up with the demand for vegetables once typhoons hit the Philippines.

“The DA and the BPI (Bureau of Plant Industry) are still continuing this program but the only problem is the very limited budget given to the program as we are still rice-centric. About 60 to 65 percent of the budget of the DA is devoted to rice. While I agree that must be the level, there are opportunities for significantly increasing the budget of agriculture, you have to really invest largely and significantly in high value agriculture and that should be a big direction the government must undertake,” Dar said.

For his part, BPI director Gerald Glenn Panganiban admitted that the budget for urban farming is only P430 million.

“It was our first time last year (to allocate a budget for urban farming), around P400 million and we were able to sustain it. For this year, about P430 million. It increased a little,” Panganiban said.

According to Panganiban, urban farming can help amid the possible impact of the El Niño phenomenon.

“Urban farming minimizes use of water and because the environment is controlled, it is not affected by drought or typhoon,” Panganiban said.