Seeding for good nutrition

“Volunteers teach students to plant vegetable gardens.”

With 20 percent of Filipinos living below the poverty line, health and nutrition continue to be a major concern in the Philippines. According to a recent study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the current chronic malnutrition rate among Filipino children aged zero to two is at 26.2 percent, the highest in 10 years. To date, a significant number of children continue to go to bed hungry and eat less than three meals a day.

Committed to addressing the state of malnutrition in the Philippines, Republic Cement launched Project Harvest, a holistic sustainability initiative in support of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Gulayaan Sa Paaralan program.

Project Harvest, short for Health Advancement through Recycling and Vegetable Garden Enrichment for Sustainable Transformation, aims to address malnutrition through innovative farming solutions in selected schools within its host communities in Batangas, Teresa, Bulacan, Cebu and Iligan.

“Project Harvest is another step we are taking to build stronger kids for a stronger republic.

We are more than happy to support the Department of Education as we share the same vision of a country with healthier children,” said Nabil Francis, president of Republic Cement Services, Inc.

Apart from the Kusina ng Kalinga, a socially responsible program in partnership with Gawad Kalinga that aims to nourish wasted children in carefully-selected adopted schools in a period of six months, the project is another phase in Republic Cement’s fight against malnutrition in the country.

DepEd’s Gulayaan sa Paaralan, program is a school-based vegetable gardening initiative that started in 2007. It was initially started to support their school-based feeding programs with the goal of nourishing severely wasted schoolchildren. The produce from the vegetable gardens are then used to make daily nutritious meals for schoolchildren.

Also in line with the Department of Health’s established theme for Nutrition Month this July, “Ugaliing magtanim, Sapat na nutrisyon aanihin!,” Project Harvest is a fitting initiative that encourages and enables selected schools to engage in backyard planting.

Volunteers from Republic Cement dedicate their spare time to educate their host communities and maintain these school-based vegetable gardens.

“There is nothing like volunteering to warm the heart. As a working mom, I feel privileged to work for a company that gives us employees the opportunity to help children become healthier and stronger. We are more than happy to spend a few hours doing gardening and cleaning, knowing that these simple acts could have an impact on a child’s life,” said Gina Ceniza, mom of three and community relations manager of Republic Cement’s Batangas Plant.

The company’s employees, contractors, teachers and even parents flocked to the schools to clean the plots of land and set-up the vegetable gardens using recyclable materials.

Volunteers were assigned tasks such as waste segregation, plastic bottle preparation and soil cultivation. They also transformed empty plastic bottles into plant holders for the vegetable gardens, filling these up with soil and vegetable seeds.

As an additional innovation to the vegetable garden, Republic Cement is also installing a rainwater catchment system to collect rainwater during heavy downpours, which can then be used for watering the garden. Not only does this ensure stable water supply for the garden, it is also anticipated to reduce operational expenses for the school by having water available for secondary uses, i.e. cleaning.

Project Harvest is launched in line with DepEd’s nationwide initiative called Brigada Eskwela that activates parents, local businesses, teachers, students, non-government organizations and members of the community to volunteer for the maintenance and clean-up of public elementary and secondary schools. The said project is being implemented in 14 schools within Republic Cement’s host communities nationwide.

“By ensuring the health and nutrition of our children, we are also ensuring that our youth will be strong enough to lead our country in the future,” concluded Francis.