Pasay City rolls out urban farm tourism program
Pasay City’s 60 barangay chairmen completed their three-day trainer’s course on urban farm tourism in Silang, Cavite.
The seminar-workshop dubbed as Pasay City Farm Tourism was held from July 7 to 9 at the International School for Sustainable Tourism in Barangay Biga II.
The trainers’ course is an initiative of Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano, together with the Pasay City Tourism and Cultural Development Office, and the ISST. It was sponsored by the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PhilExport) in cooperation with the local government unit of Silang, Cavite.
The program aims to clean and green Pasay City through various urban farming techniques like vertical gardening and plastic container gardening.
The concept of urban farm tourism is to seize tourism opportunities by showcasing successful “greening” projects at the barangay level.
The program aims to encourage the city’s youth to appreciate the worthwhile activity and eventually venture into urban farming.
Moreover, the program is seen as an opportunity for the barangays to revive local culture, traditions, and food history.
Urban farm tourism hopes to empower urban youth duelers to be more engaged in agriculture for environmental sustainability and food security.
Teresita C. Robles, Founder of "Aasenso sa Green and Clean" and head of the Pasay City Heritage and Cultural Commission, said urban farm tourism aims to bring farming to the city and ensure food security among its constituents, especially amid the pandemic.
“First and foremost, planting is beneficial to our health and second and boost food security. This was initiated by the mayor when she founded I Care for Mother Earth. We as citizens have the duty and responsibility to take care of our environment and Mother Earth,” says Robles.
Dr. Mina Gabor, chairman and president of International School for Sustainable Tourism and former secretary of the Department of Tourism, said with urban farm tourism, agriculture is becoming “sexy” for the youth.
“Our farmers are aging and the youth are not very interested in farming. Our school wants to change this and right now, we have started to generate awareness and the youth are becoming attracted to urban farming,” Gabor, who is a Sulong Pasay convenor, said.
George Tiopes, head of Pasay City Tourism Department, said urban farming is the way to go for Pasay City.
“Even with the concrete surrounding we have, it is not impossible to grow vegetables. We can do it vertically, we can do hydroponics, or even grow vegetables in plastic containers,” he said.
He said he plans to encourage barangay officials to develop a space that can later be part of a tourism package to be offered by the Pasay City Tourism Department.
Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PhilExport) and a convener and co-founder of Sulong Pasay, said that while urban farming is not an entirely new concept, integrating it with tourism somehow spices up the endeavor.