44th NUTRITION MONTH

JULY 6, 2018
What is Nutrition Month?
Nutrition Month is a yearly campaign
held every July to create greater
awareness among Filipinos on the
importance of nutrition. Presidential
Decree 491 or the Nutrition Act of
the Philippines mandates the
National Nutrition Council (NNC) to
lead and coordinate the nationwide
campaign.
What is the theme of the 2018 Nutrition
Month?
 Every year, the NNC Technical
Committee chooses a theme to
highlight an important and timely
concern in nutrition. This year, the
selected focus of the Nutrition Month
campaign is on food gardening. The
chosen theme is “Ugaliing magtanim,
sapat na nutrisyon aanihin!”
What are the objectives of the 2018
Nutrition Month?

 TheNutrition Month campaign aims to

contribute to improved nutrition
through improved food access by
increasing the number of households,
schools, and communities engaged in
food gardens.
Specifically, it aims to:

1. Encourage development of food

gardens among families and in
communities, schools, government
offices, and workplaces; and,
2. Mobilize various stakeholders to
provide a fostering environment for
sustainable food gardens.
Why focus on food gardening?

1. Prevent micronutrient deficiencies

through diet diversification.
2. Reduce food insecurity or food
poverty.
3. Increase consumption of fruits and
vegetables.
4. Impact of food gardening to society

 According to the Food and Agriculture

Organization (FAO) of the United
Nations, food gardens address food and
nutrition security by providing direct
access to a variety of nutritionally-rich
foods; increase purchasing power from
savings; generate additional income; and
provide fallback during disasters and
seasonal lean periods.
Home food gardens are also established to:
reduce poverty;
diversify income and rural
employment;
improve the quality and quantity of
household food supply and improve
nutrition;
improve the status of women;
improve water and waste
management at household and
community levels; and,
reduce pressure on wild food
resources.
What is a food garden?

 Foodgardens refer to “an intimate, multi-

storey combinations of various trees and
crops, sometimes in association with domestic
animals, around homesteads, and add that
home garden cultivation is fully or partially
committed for vegetables, fruits, and herbs,
primarily for domestic consumption and
secondary for additional household income.
 Sustainable food production such as food
gardens may also give focus towards
livestock raising, which is the rearing of
animals like cows and small animals like
chickens, goats and ducks, and raised in an
agricultural setting to produce labor and
commodities (meat, eggs, or milk). Food
gardens tend to be located close to
dwelling for security, convenience, and
special care. They occupy a land marginal
to field production and labor marginal to
major household economic activities.
Alternatively, food gardens are
also called the following: mixed-
garden horticulture, house garden,
compound farm garden, kitchen
garden, household garden, and
homestead agroforestry.
Food gardens have six intrinsic
characteristics4:
1. Are located near the residence
2. Contain a high diversity of plants
3. May include domesticated animals that produce
labor and commodities
4. Production is supplemental rather than a main
source of family consumption and income
5. Occupy a small area
6. A production system that the poor can easily
enter at some level
What are the benefits of having food
gardens?
Food gardens have been an integral part of local
food systems in many developing countries
around the world. Numerous studies provide
descriptive evidence and analysis of food
gardens in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and
pinpoint their benefits to communities and
families. Primarily, food gardens are intended to
grow and produce food items for family and
community consumption, but they can also be
diversified to produce outputs that have
multiple benefits.
Among these benefits are the following:
 Improve nutritional status
 Improve household food security
 Increase availability of food and better nutrition through
food diversity
 Increase local biodiversity
 Alleviate food shortages during disaster
 Increase household income
 Offer opportunities for women, youth, elderly, and the
disabled
 Foster community mobilization
 Health intervention
What are the problems of having food
gardens and how can these be addressed?

 Lack of access to land and water

Solutions:
 Lack of land
 By distributing relatively small landholdings to
land-poor families
 Gardening technologies that can be grown in
smaller spaces, such as: vertical gardening,
hydroponics, and container gardening, which
will be further discussed in section IX.
 Lackof water
Drought prone areas can use simple
wells and artisanal irrigation
Rainwater harvesting may be an
affordable means of capturing,
storing and applying water for food
gardens. Households may also use
household wastewater.
Basic gardening tools needed