Impacts of Urban Agriculture Annual Report.p65 - International ...

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sold in adjacent Metro Manila. Data shows that up to2.8 million flower buds are traded daily in San Pedro.11As the study points out, the various livelihood activitiesrevolving around garland making in San Pedro providenumerous benefits to everyone involved. At theforefront of these benefits are employment and incomegeneration, socio-cultural benefits (making the youthproductive and empowering woman), and thepromotion of loyalty, trust and a sense of traditionamong those involved in the garland production chain.However, as with any other agribusiness venture, thesampaguita enterprise is beset with problems.Among the most pressing is the susceptibility ofsampaguita to insect attack, which in turn leads tofarmers’ extensive use of pesticides. This not only harmsthe environment and raises production costs, but alsoaffects the health of those who handle the flowers. Allplayers along the chain, from growers to pickers togarland stringers, have complained of skin allergies andbreathing difficulties and suspect it is due to pesticideresidue in the flowers. Woman and children are the mostexposed to health risks because they are in charge ofpicking the flower’s buds and therefore re-enter thefarm less than 12 hours after spraying.With this in mind, health risks resulting from pestmanagement and pesticide use were a major focus ofthe study. Farmers are often oblivious to the negativehealth effects that can result from using either very toxicor unsafe pesticides, or simply using too much of it.Some sampaguita growers spray as much as four timesa week to combat the whitefly and budborer and otherinsect pests and diseases.The study also identified other major problems andconstraints faced by key players in the garland productionchain, including competition with other sellers andsuppliers, a lack of capital to increase business, nonpaymentof loans by customers, irregular price fluctuationsof flowers and a lack of better methods of storing flowers.Rapid urbanization in the municipality is also a threat.At the forefront of CIP-UPWARD’s efforts to help findsolutions to the main constraints affecting thesampaguita livelihood in the Philippines is thedevelopment of an Integrated Pest Managementscheme to reduce the frequency of pesticideapplications and encourage the selection of less-toxicones. Non-pesticide based management was alsointroduced including the use of biological pest controls,better farm management practices that minimize pestinfestations, and replacement of sick and oldsampaguita plants.
12At the policy level, CIP-UPWARD-Urban Harvest helpedorganize a multi-disciplinary and inter-institutional forumthat discussed the problem of excessive pesticide use andlack of registered crop protection products forsampaguita. The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority of thePhilippines, representatives of crop protectioncompanies, government research institutions andsampaguita farmers attended this forum. An Ad-hoccommittee was formed in this meeting to discuss andstudy policy recommendations on pesticide use forsampaguita.At post-production level, this study emphasized theimportance of identifying better storage methods forsampaguita floral buds, which can only be preserved for48 hours using the existing technology of packing themin Styrofoam containers with ice. This forces garlandmakersand contractors to only buy what they can processin one day. The study points out that better storagemethods could allow them to manage their timemore efficiently.Another major concern identified in the study wasthe reduction in the yield and the perishability ofsampaguita flowers. More information on the floralbiology (i.e. flowering and pollination) of thesampaguita could be used, among other things, tobreed new varieties that could have flowers of variedcolors and that are more resistant to pests anddiseases. Determining the nutrient requirements ofsampaguita and even using organic manure as anutrient source to enhance yield and quality was alsosuggested in the study.Other opportunities discussed included thecommercial feasibility of extracting essential oils fromthe sampaguita flower.
Page 1 and 2: Impacts of urbanagricultureHighligh
Page 3 and 4: 2Impacts of urban agricultureHighli
Page 6 and 7: IntroductionThe CGIAR 1 System-wide
Page 8: 7RESEARCH FRAMEWORKThe Urban Harves
Page 11: Flower power in the Philippines:Str
Page 16 and 17: tours offered all over the country.
Page 18 and 19: Identifying best bet marketingoppor
Page 20 and 21: What should I feed my child?Percept
Page 22 and 23: Introduction to Urban ecosystems he
Page 24 and 25: Pesticide-related health hazards ar
Page 26 and 27: test whether contamination was redu
Page 28 and 29: Dirty secret treasures in NairobiNa
Page 30 and 31: The chaotic state of solid waste ma
Page 32 and 33: themselves, both recently harvested
Page 34 and 35: Introduction to stakeholderand poli
Page 36 and 37: invited to attend this public prese
Page 38 and 39: An urban agricultural model in the
Page 40 and 41: Security, Agriculture and Livestock
Page 42 and 43: KARI in July 2004. One of the recom
Page 44 and 45: NetworkingLocal and global networki
Page 46 and 47: Networking and capacity building ac
Page 48 and 49: 47Final Stakeholder Workshop on Iss
Page 50 and 51: LATIN AMERICA49Activities Location
Page 52 and 53: 51Foro Electoral Políticas y Compr
Page 54 and 55: Dubbling M., G. Prain, M. Warnaars,
Page 56 and 57: Peters, D., Ngai, DO Duc 2004 Agro
Page 58 and 59: University of the Philippines,Dilim
Page 60 and 61: Investment partners59Bundensministe
Page 62 and 63:
STUDENTS AND INTERNS61LimaTomás Al
Page 64 and 65:
Abbreviations and acronymsCEPISCESA
Page 66:
Urban Harvest is the CGIAR system w
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