The Quezon City government said on Saturday, Jan. 20, that the number of urban farms established in the city increased from 754 in June to 1,026 in December 2023.

“This is a most welcome development, especially in addressing food security in our communities,” Quezon City  Mayor Joy Belmonte said.

The program, launched in Sept. 2010, started with just a 750-square-meter area near the chain of restaurants at the Quezon Memorial Circle (QMC). It was relocated to a 1,500-square-meter land inside QMC in 2014.

The local government said that the farms were again relocated and can now be found in all 142 barangays in the city.

Belmonte said the increase in urban farms can be attributed to City Ordinance No. SP-2972 that was passed and enabled in 2020.

The ordinance exempts land owners from Idle Land Tax if they use their idle properties for urban agriculture for a minimum period of three years.

"Instead of letting their idle lands go unused while paying taxes, many property owners have decided to join our GrowQC kasama ka sa pag-unlad ng pagkain, kabuhayan at kalusugan (improvement in food, livelihood, and health)  food security initiative by utilizing their idle properties through urban agriculture and food production,” Belmonte shared.

According to the city government, land owners can enjoy the tax incentive, if they devoted their entire land to urban agriculture for a minimum of three years.

The land should yield agricultural produce for personal or public consumption, it said.

The mayor also made the urban agriculture program part of the GrowQC food security initiative during the pandemic to provide food for the most vulnerable communities in the city.

Belmonte said that aside from making food available and accessible, around 25,000 QCitizen urban farmers working on green jobs also benefited from the farms.
She said the city’s food security initiative will also promote beekeeping, mushroom production, aquaculture, hydroponics and smart farming to sustain the momentum of the program in 2024.

Belmonte added that they will also work on improving the food systems by implementing more environment-friendly circular economy principles like composting of biodegradable waste through the expansion of Bokashi, Vermiculture, Black Soldier Fly, the use of biodigesters and rapid composters and various composting methods that benefit the city’s urban farms.

The city government said it will be advocating more “Food Surplus Rescue” efforts where excess food to be thrown away will be redirected to feed the hungry and vulnerable.