Living in the city does not pay. It is costly. A large part of the cost is the expensive food that residents need to buy. A friend once cynically pointed out to me that I could always buy junk food which is cheaper and is available everywhere.

In one news program, an ordinary worker earning the minimum wage of around P500 was tracked by the camera as he went about buying the ingredients for his family’s daily meals at the neighborhood palengke. He struggled to keep his purchases within his daily wage budget and, in the end, was left with P8.00 in his pocket. Where would he get the money to pay for his transportation fare and the cost of electricity and water? Not to mention the load for the internet for his kids’ virtual schooling? The point was well made.

The prices of meat and vegetables are now so way out of reach of our neighborhood liempo cum kimchi home delivery suki that he recently closed down his once burgeoning enterprise.

It leads me to think:  Can’t we bring the farm to the city? Can’t city dwellers grow and produce their own food?

If I remember right, there used to be urban farming projects in some cities in Metro Manila using large tracts of empty land. Why not relaunch and sustain these urban farming initiatives and let a million backyards and idle lands bloom with vegetables and fruits? Crazy? Maybe, but why not? After all, the recent pandemic has already catalyzed the emergence of plantitos and plantitas. Why stop at just growing indoor plants? Why not move on to urban gardening and farming?

Think of these immediate benefits to your family. When you grow your own food, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get the healthy and nutritious vegetables, herbs, and fruits that you need. These are low in cholesterol, high in fiber, and have beneficial vitamins and nutrients. Imagine plucking the fresh produce whenever they are ready for harvest, so you don’t need to worry about the shelf-life.

Then, you can even sell excess produce to other people. It can also create a source of livelihood for people in your neighborhood. Why not form a mini-farming cooperative?

Urban farming is a perfect solution for vacant and underutilized lots scattered throughout cities. Let each city look for idle lands and convert them into communal gardens or farms. Then let the community take care of these mini farms which now become a source of their vegetables and fruits at very low cost. Let’s face it, many city dwellers are migrants from rural provinces and have farming know-how. Some of the idle lands or some areas in the city parks can also be converted into fishponds.

In Japanese supermarkets, there is a certain space reserved for the produce of local farmers or gardeners. They even post pictures of the farmers, so people get to know them. Maybe we can do the same here.

Or we can designate or even build a specific place as a farmers’ market where produce of neighborhoods can be sold on certain days. This will give a run for the money of middlemen who bring vegetables and fruits from far-flung farms. It will definitely make the cost of food items in the usual palengke or supermarkets within the budget of the ordinary housewife.

Urban gardening can help alleviate rising food costs by providing city dwellers the opportunity to grow and harvest their own fresh and nutritious food at a fraction of what the same produce would otherwise cost at the palengke or supermarket.

It will also benefit local food service enterprises, as they will have a steady source of inexpensive basic ingredients for their food offerings.

In Detroit City, 12 vacant houses were removed from one patch of land to grow food. The result: almost 200,000 kilograms of produce for 2,000 local families were raised, providing volunteer experience to 8,000 residents and making the area livable again, aside from being edible.

There’s a study led by the Arizona State University and Google that was published in the journal Earth’s Future. If well planned, the study concludes, “Urban farms could supply almost the entire recommended consumption of vegetables for city dwellers, while cutting food waste and reducing emissions from the transportation of agricultural products.” Not to mention making cities more livable because of increased vegetation cover and other positive things that will solve many urban environmental problems.

But there is also another good reason for cultivating food gardens at home or in our neighborhood.

It’s educational for our urban children who don’t even know or care where their food comes from. A small backyard garden can help them get educated about growing food. That’s a unique skill to have in today’s world. It can educate our children about sustainable food and its health benefits. That’s something worth learning and teaching.

Exposure to urban gardening and farming will also make farming cool for young people. In the words of economist Cielito Habito, it will give the “benefit of drawing young people back to farming, as opportunities in the ‘digitalization’ of agriculture and agribusiness make it more exciting for millennials and Gen Z to immerse themselves in and create wealth in the farms.”

What if you don’t have a huge backyard? Urban gardening experts say that you don’t need a lot of space to grow your own food. There are techniques like vertical gardening, container gardening, rooftop gardening, and hydroponic gardening that make good use of limited space. A little Pinoy abilidad will do it.

Let’s transform our cities into vibrant and “edible” landscapes, and revamp our backyards, balconies, and rooftops into garden oases. Let’s engage our urban youth by giving them opportunities to gain hands-on experience in growing food and learn the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet. Let’s connect with other people who do it!

I long to see the day when we can see urban farm plots, indoor vertical farms, and rooftop gardens nestled amongst busy streets and skyscrapers.

Let’s make growers and farmers out of urban dwellers. Let us create a city that grows and produces what it eats.

About the author: NICK TAYAG is a multi-media writer and communications specialist. His special focus is scriptwriting for audio visual presentations and documentary videos, creative conceptualization and writing think pieces. Now in his early 70s, he is the Creative Consultant of a digital production and event management outfit. He also writes a regular column for the Business Mirror called “My Sixty Zen’s Worth” which comes out every Saturday. His most recent script for a bio documentary on Filipino master filmmaker Gerardo “Manong” de Leon entitled “Salamat sa Alaala,” was nominated for best documentary in the 2016 URIAN awards. As an advertising copywriter in the 1990s, he won recognition from the Creative Guild of the Philippines and the Public Relations Society of the Philippines for ads he wrote for corporate clients. He also won a UNICEF-PPI Award for Outstanding Story On Children. He is presently working on a book on creative conceptualization as well as inspirational booklets.