FARMING is nothing new. Mankind has been farming since our departure from purely hunting and gathering.
Urban farming is nothing new either, except for the venue perhaps, being places where there are human settlements.
Rural farming will always be there also, and there is nothing new about that either.
So, what is it that is new that we are looking for?
In order not to sound too ambitious, I will just put this in the form of a wish. I wish that urban mayors will start providing funds for urban farming in all its forms, including vertical farming and tree farming of course, and not to forget bamboo farming as well. And vertical farming should include not only fruits and vegetables, but also fish, poultry and livestock.
As part of our initiatives for food security, we should go beyond the stage of treating urban farming as a hobby, meaning that we should start treating it as a business. We should now include urban farming outputs as part of our overall production targets. If we can do this right, we can even include this in our export targets also.
Although urban farming should really be treated as a business, it should also mean having enough food for home consumption, not only for the urban farmer, but also for his or her neighbors. It could also address hunger and malnutrition in the long run.
URBAN FORESTS AND HEAT WAVES
Urban forests could be a three-in-one solution to the problem of heat waves and rising temperatures.
First, the trees could provide shade that could as the heat.
Second, trees could produce oxygen that could cool the air.
Third, the trees could produce food that could nourish us.
As proof of the first and second solution, it was recently reported that the temperature in the Arroceros Forest Park in Manila was lower than anywhere else in the city.
The third solution could be a little bit tricky, because not all trees could bear fruit and produce food. There is a solution for that however, because the late Dr. Jose “Pepe” Cunanan came up with the idea of using the trees, any tree as a trellis that could grow any climbing plant or vine that could produce edible leaves and fruits.
Can you imagine an acacia tree bearing squash fruits? We have always known that trees could be a solution to climate change, but it is a good thing that we now realize that trees could also be a solution not only to lessen global warming, but also to increase our food security.
Is that not a very simple, common sensical reality that we should realize? Is that not enough to convince all of us to plant trees in every vacant land everywhere?
Our goal now should be to build a forest in every space, in every village, so that there will be trees everywhere./PN
