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[Music] >>Narrator: The world today faces many great
challenges. We need to more than just survive.
We need to ensure a habitable planet for our children
and our children's children.
Never before has the human race produced so much food so efficiently.
But massive inequity remains in the distribution of our food supply.
About 25,000 people die every day of hunger. Excessive and indiscriminate use of pesticides
and petro-chemical fertilizers has poisoned our land and waters.
Are these same chemicals slowly but surely poisoning us?
There is a massive relentless production but who gives thought to managing the waste
generated by our economic activities?
Climate change looms over us, but we persist in our polluting ways.
Why do we not adopt eco-friendly alternatives? And there is the ancient struggle against
the lack of health, the lack of education, and the seeming absence of opportunities for
millions to transcend poverty.
>>Julian Gonsalves: Most people are aware of some of the environmental problems associated
with our systems of agriculture today.
One of the good things about the level of knowledge today is that we already know how
to solve most of the problems of food security and environmental degradation
I don't think we have a shortage of knowledge. What we need are people willing to apply what
is already known to produce food in a sustainable way and an environmentally sound way.
The solutions are there. Most often the solutions are very simple,
very easy to apply. Bio-Intensive Gardens are one way.
Generally, it is an issue of application of knowledge.
[Music]
The key concept is having a narrow bed and a raised bed.
So this allows the soil to be kept very deep as you can see here.
You don't have to dig a plot again and again you just dig it once and then the plants do
the digging for themselves.
And over here you see the source of nutrients. Any leguminous plant can be used as a fertilizer
and this particular system is of special relevance to urban areas as well.
>>Marise Espinelli: Bio-Intensive Gardening (BIG) was packaged by IIRR out of many traditional
gardening practices biased towards more organic and sustainable agriculture. It was a product
of 30 years of research and on the ground practice.
>>Narrator: Bio-Intensive Gardening has been practiced across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
The Bio-Intensive Approach offers sustainable solutions if practiced by more and more farms,
communities, households, it can help address issues of food insecurity, malnutrition, environmental
degradation and climate change.
In 1980, IIRR's Bio-Intensive Approach contributed significantly towards reducing hunger and
poverty among displaced families of sugar cane workers in the province of Negros Occidental.
And it endures today. The Sisters of Mary School in Silang, Cavite,
catering to 2,000 youth in Luzon, adopted Bio-Intensive Gardening
to rehabilitate the soil on their 5 hectare property. Taking the first step toward self-reliance,
food security, and better nutrition for their students.
[Translated Section]
At present the farm generates a significant income for SOM (Sisters of Mary) in the form
of savings in food costs and garbage hauling fees and a long-term benefit in the restoration
of this once depleted soil.
[Translated Section]
>>Dominic Benavente: In June and July we had all the plants in the soil, they started bearing
fruits and within just 2 months, 1,590 Kg of produce we came up with.
>>Narrator: In time, as they continue to apply the principles of the Bio-Intensive Approach,
the farm will have the capacity to sustain all of their kitchen requirements and this
will cut 2.4 Million pesos of their food expenses each year.
[Music]
[Translated Section]
>>Julian Gonsalves: We are really interested to be able to influence their thinking about
their environment. Gardens have always been a very powerful device
to influence young people about basic environmental and natural resource concepts.
There is a tremendous opportunity offered by gardens for purposes of conserving our
traditional varieties. By growing indigenous vegetables in a bio-intensive garden you're
actually conserving these varieties for future generations.
>>Narrator: IIRR has successfully developed a high school level curriculum that teaches
the principles and methods of bio-intensive gardening. In doing this, we can reach a wider
audience and credibly teach Bio-Intensive Gardening to more and more young people.
>>Dominic Benavente: Through this project, students will learn that when they take care
of nature, nature will take care of them.
>>Narrator: Bio-Intensive Gardening can support the nutritional needs of both rural and urban
families, assure food security, and can serve as their source of income.
>>Julian Gonsalves: The big problem today is increasing urbanization. People are moving
to the cities for work or they're driven because of climate change issues or because of issues
centered around acquisition of land. One of the things that has not yet been tested or
developed enough in the Philippines for example, or other asian countries, is the concept of
community gardens. Where a small area of land, say 1,000-2,000 sq meters is sub-divided into
small plots and allocated to urban families so they can garden in small plots of no more
than 100 sq meters each, ideally 50 sq meters each. Now here's where gardens can make a
difference, for people who are internally displaced, for people who have had to move
out for 15-20 years.
You know the problem with Bio-Intensive Gardening, it's just so simple that nobody pays attention
to it. They don't realize the value of it. I think it's an issue of how to get people
to appreciate how important is Bio-Intensive Gardening.
>>Narrator: Supporting the expansion of Bio-Intensive Gardening and other sustainable agriculture
projects contributes not only to the livelihood and food sufficiency of poor communities,
but also mitigates the impacts of climate change.