By MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR
Filipino agriculture and logistics firm Delgado Brothers (Delbros) Group said there is a need for the Philippines to set up more vertical farming facilities in urban cities to address hunger among poor Filipinos.
In a statement, the company said the government needs to be “more open to modern agriculture” as it is a means to drastically reduce hunger in the country.
With over 70 years of history, Delbros Group is the country’s pioneer agriculture and logistics innovation. It currently has over 20 subsidiaries and member companies both locally and internationally.
“With the controlled environment of vertical farming facilities and the limited space it takes up, we can ensure that we provide safe, affordable, and accessible food to Filipinos even in urban areas,” Good Greens and Co. Director of Research and Development Erez Lugassi said.
It was in 2018 when Delbros launched Good Greens and Co.’s vertical farming facilities in the Philippines.
Vertical farming is a method of cultivating plants stacked upwards, usually within buildings, taking less space than traditional farming.
Because this method takes up fewer resources such as water and land, it then becomes a feasible solution for smart cities. Singapore, for instance, is leading the vertical farming trend in Southeast Asia, with over 30 vertical farms by several companies in the past year.
In the Philippines, the root of involuntary hunger, low agricultural productivity, is a result of many factors including limited resources and vulnerability to drastic weather changes and natural calamities.
For the Philippines to achieve its goal of reducing hunger, the World Bank recommends to drive productivity in all sectors, especially agriculture.
Steps have already been taken to achieve this. The Urban Agriculture Act of 2013, which requires the Department of Agriculture to explore urban agriculture, including vertical farming, and transform abandoned government lots into vertical farming facilities, has already been filed.
If this becomes a law, Delbros Group Managing Director Jose Paolo Delgado believes that the benefits are endless.
Since its launch, Good Greens and Co. has already achieved 15 successful cycles of produce which includes arugula, basil, pechay, chili, lettuce, and many others.