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Establishment of an Allotment Garden with Ecosan Toilet for the Urban Poor of
Barangay Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

Success Stories of Urban Agriculture in South Asia

Thailand

1. Municipal Organic Waste…To Urban Organic Agriculture Revival

Lomsak municipality is located in Lomsak district, in the lower northern region of Thailand. The area of Lomsak municipality is approximately 2.08 square kilometers. Population of the municipality is 13,309 of which 6,455 are men and 6,854 are females.

The agriculture sector, especially vegetable planting is the major occupation of the people here. As a result 20 tones of waste is generated each day and its trend is increasing. This waste is transported and disposed in municipal landfill. Lomsak municipality has tried to increase efficiency of waste management while reducing the amount of waste disposed in the landfill. The municipality has promoted waste separation, organic and general waste. The organic waste is fermented by effective microorganism and molasses and used as Fermented Organic Liquid. The municipality has utilized this liquid as a deodorizer and cleaning liquid. Furthermore this organic liquid can be used as fermented organic liquid fertilizer.

To increase the income of the municipality, the project “Organic Vegetable for Good Health” was launched. The project aimed at reducing the use of chemical substances in agriculture.

This project can be shown as an example of ‘urban agriculture revival’ dealing with solid waste management, urban greening, income generation, as well as good health promoting and lead to a ‘ sustainable and livable city of Lomsak Municipality’.

2. The community sufficiency economy learning center…..The center for urban poverty reduction

Chiang Rai municipality is one of the big size municipality, located in Muang district, part of Chiang Rai province lies in the Northern region of Thailand. It covers the area of 60.85 sqkms. The number of household in municipal area is about 20,843 households in 60 communities. And number of population is approximately 69,097 people with 33,040 men and 36,057 women.

The community sufficiency economic center was established in June 2005, in order to be used as an ‘agricultural learning and technology transforming center’, for the agriculturist. In the beginning, the center was implemented in the vacant area of about approximately 9.88 acres. It was implemented as a ‘demonstration site’ for sufficiency economy and sustainable agriculture for the agriculturist. The vacant area was allocated to the local agriculturist who registered, at the provincial administration Office. This registration was initiated by the government aiming to reduce the problem of poverty.
There were about 35 agriculturists working in this center. These farmers were given training on sustainable agriculture, organic fertilizer production and related appropriate agricultural technology. After that, they were divided into several groups and then circulated to be responsible of the various demonstrated activities and learn from real implementation for 90 days. During this time, they were paid daily 100 Bhat. However, after this training, they were allocated the area of 1 rai in the center to implement their own farming or livestock without using chemical substances

Some to the products from the center was sold o the provincial hospital for the patient’s food and some was sold in municipal market. The participating agriculturist could earn about 300-500 Bhat per day.

Seeing the positive result , the center has expanded the implementing areas in 66 rai (about 26.10 acres). At present there are several government and non-government organization providing technical and financial support to the center.

Thus, it can be seen that these organization have focused on ‘ urban agriculture’ as one of the strategies for urban poverty reduction. Furthermore the local people are able to get organic food, which is good for health as well as environment. It is said that laughs, smiles, warmth and happiness of the families are the result of implementing urban agriculture, which finally lead to a …Livable City.

3. Organic Agriculture…Utilization of compacted organic fertilizer from organic waste in demonstrated Paddy field

Samrong Thap Municipality, is a small size municipality, located in Samrong Thap district, Surin province in north eastern region of Thailand. It covers an area of about 4 kms. The population of the municipality is about 2,293 people, of which 1.177 are males and 1,116 are females.

At present, many local government organizations have been faced with the serious problems of waste disposal, and its management due to lack of sanitary disposal system. Most of the solid waste is illegally dumped in open dumping site.

One of the policies which the government focuses on is poverty reduction particularly for grassroots farmers. The government announced an agricultural policy on February 26 2001, which was to increase competitiveness and capacity in agricultural sector and to focus on organic farming promotion.

Thus, in order to respond to the government policy and solve the problem of waste disposal, Samrong Thab Municipality set up the Samrong Thap organic farming group consisting of 74 members. The group presented the compacted organic fertilizer project to gain the budget to the municipality. The municipality approved of the project and the group started working and operating. The municipality started segregating the waste at the source. The organic waste were converted to compost fertilizer and some organic waste can be used for fermented liquid processing. The compost fertilizer were sold to the members of the group to use in rice fields. In addition, for a better comprehension, the municipality organized a demonstrated field.

The benefit of the compacted organic fertilizer project which was organized by Samrong Thab Municipality was the reduction of the amount of waste dumped in the open dumping site, reduction in environmental problems, improving the people’s quality of life by getting rid of chemical and toxic substances.

Sri Lanka

1. Uniqueness in Sri Lankan Experience

In inviting to work on urban agricultural goals and dimensions, the concept of “the Family Business Garden (FBG)” was introduced with field demonstration on 5th June or the World Environment Day of 2000, by the Department of Agriculture (Western Province). The concept attempts to convert the simple form of home gardening into a supply source of family nutrition, income and mental satisfaction that based on sustainable entrepreneurship goals.

The mission of the concept of the FBG is to encompass limited urban horizontal space and maximizes available vertical space by applying “Vertical Development Themes” into the agricultural development process. For instance, mission addresses the following areas in urban communities: food security, micro-farming practices, value-added production, environment and/or commercial agriculture, and sustainable development initiatives. The prime focus of the concept is to integrate Indigenous Technical Know-how (ITK) with adaptable forms of Scientific Technical Knowledge (STK) available in different fields of sustainable development. The concept of the FBG carries five prime expectations or characters and four aims in its implementation with urban communities and is briefly pointed out

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