MANILA - At the heart of the highly urbanized commercial district of Bonifacio Global City lies an unlikely establishment: a farm that grows vegetables.

Surrounded by some of the most modern high-rises in the Philippines, the BGC Community Garden sticks out as an oddity–growing fresh green produce amid the concrete, glass and asphalt jungle of the city.

The urban farm, which is turning two years old this March, is the brainchild and pandemic passion project of entrepreneur Louie Gutierrez.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he found himself with lots of free time and jobless employees in his chain of jewelry stores.

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"Daming nangyari nung pandemic, daming nawalan ng trabaho. My company then was one of them. I have 500 employees. I have stores in the malls. Nagsara ang mga malls, walang trabaho mga tao," said Gutierrez, who now calls himself the farmer-in-chief of Urban Farmers PH.

Like many pandemic plantitos, Gutierrez didn't expect that he would devote time tending to plants. He had almost zero knowledge in urban farming, and the idea popped into his head out of the blue.

"I live in a village. One day, naglalakad ako sa aming street, may nakita akong isang empty space, empty lot. Bigla ko naisip, baka pwede magtanim so that I can give jobs to my employees. Biglang pumayag ang owner," Gutierrez said.

"Sabi ko it's a sign I have to do something. Eh wala ako kaalam-alam about farming. Mahilig lang ako kumain. So nagpunta ako sa internet, naghanap ako ng taong tutulong. It was hard to do that dahil pandemic," he said.

When pandemic restrictions were eased, he got in touch with an agriculturist, who guided his team along the way.

"We started online training with this agriculturist. Nung nag-open ng konti, tinuruan na kami with my team sa company to do farming. Nakapag-harvest kami after a few months. Inimbitahan ko yung mga residente ng village. And then, unang produce namin, binigay namin sa mga kasambahay, security guards, naging puntahan siya ng community," he added.

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Being a tenant in Ayala Malls, he invited some of his friends from the mall to his small garden, which was then inside an exclusive village in Makati.

These friends would eventually introduce him to property developers in BGC, who were charmed by the idea of urban farming.

"Long story short, they introduced us to BGC. sabi nila, there's an empty space maybe you'd want to start opening a farm. And through Ayala, the FBDC or the Fort Bonifacio Development Corp, lent us this beautiful property. We started in March of 2022, and right now, we're growing so many varieties of gulay and we're really happy we are inspiring a lot of people to go to farming," he said.

The garden now prides itself on producing around 11 types of lettuce, red okra, bok choy, arugula, tomatoes and eggplants, among many other types of vegetables. They are also planting some ornamentals.

They also push for organic farming as they never use chemical pesticides for their plants.

Little by little, the farm has grown. It is now complete with a greenhouse, a nursery, and a workshop area. It employs full-time farmers and welcomes volunteers who believe in the same advocacy of sustainable farming for food security.

Dozens of BGC residents now constantly source their fresh veggies from the farm, as they produce varieties that are not always commercially available.

"Ina-identify namin kung anong hinahanap ng community. Here in BGC, a lot of people look for lettuce. We have varieties of lettuce na hindi nyo makikita sa supermarket. We also have pick and pay, na you can come here, free to come here, kung anong gulay ang available to harvest, you can take home and pay," Gutierrez said.

Aside from supplying BGC residents with fresh vegetables, the farm gave hope to many people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

The manager of the farm, Randy Yenogacio, was one of its beneficiaries.

"Nawalan ako ng work nung pandemic time, but because of Urban Farmers, nakapag provide ako sa family ko. Nabigyan nila ako trabaho," he said.

"Ang work ko talaga nasa office ako, more on logistics. Nabigyan ako ng chance sa farming. Zero knowledge ako, pinasok ako sa iba ibang training, workshops, naturuan kami. Now, kami naman nagshare ng knowledge," he added.

STRUGGLES AND CHALLENGES

But Gutierrez admits building the urban farm from scratch came with several struggles.

"Nung una talaga, ang challenge is the pests. Syempre being just a grassland, walang masyadong ecosystem here. When we started growing our vegetables, kinakain ng mga peste, because the buildings have pest control. When we were able to develop an ecosystem where we have birds, butterflies, bees to pollinate the vegetables and plants, nag-adjust ang area sa gulay," he said.

Agriculturist Krizrein Andrada said that while it wasn't easy, their team pushed on.

"Medyo mahirap siya because of the setting, hindi ka agad pwede magtanim basta-basta. Lalo pinahiram lang land satin. Mystery soil siya kumbaga. Hindi natin alam dating nangyayari sa soil nito. And thinking about the consumer, kailangan yung pino produce natin for them ay safe to consume," he said.

What glued them together is their love for the job and the belief that putting up a garden in a commercial district is viable.

"Yung pag-put up ng garden, hindi siya madali, kailangan mo ng initiative, yung desire mo. Kaya kami nakapag start sa BGC, because of our advocacy," he added.

ACTIVITIES IN THE GARDEN

Entrance to the urban garden is free, and there is a pick-and-pay system where visitors can avail of fresh vegetables available.

During weekends, they also conduct workshops to entice more people into urban gardening. Children and their parents participate in workshops for a small fee.

Here, they can learn about the different types of soils, and experience planting themselves.

"Libre po silang pumunta dito, wala kaming entrance fee. And may pick and pay. So we have packs. We're not selling per kilo, meron mixed veggies kami tinatawag, pwede bumili sitaw, kalabasa, kung meron product, okra," said Mary Jane Rusiana, known as farmer Jen to the team.

"Meron ditong adopt-a-pod, pwede i-rent yung pod, pero yung rent donation yun. P2000 per month, rent nila, pwede sila mag tanim dyan. Pwede nila i-visit everyday, pero kung di makaka-visit, pwedeng yung one of our farmers may take care of the pod," she added.

Rusiana started as a security guard, but eventually fell in love with urban farming. She said she was happy to work in the garden.

"Ang ginagawa namin dito sa urban farm, nagtatanim kami dito. Actually ito ay ginagawa namin sa daily routine. After ng morning, unang gagawin, magdidilig, magsosow kami another day para tuluy-tuloy para maprovide sa BGC citizens yung fresh veggies at naturally grown para sa kanila," she narrated.

"Happy place po talaga ito, iba po dito, masaya to serve, halimbawa yung makaka-provide kami fresh veggies sa urban, napakasaya na nakikita namin mga walk-in at customers namin saying ay makakatikim pala kami ng fresh veggies na natural," she narrated.

INSPIRING YOUNG PEOPLE

Urban Farmers PH aims to inspire more young people to get into agriculture.

"Alam mo kasi, median age of Filipino farmers is 55. In 10 years, baka wala na farmer. We really need to encourage younger people to get into it so we will have enough food grown locally for the future generation," Gutierrez said.

They said while it may come with challenges, people only need to be creative in starting their own urban gardens.

"Hindi mo kailangan mag start ng big, you can start small, even with recycled. Dito sa farm 85 percent recycled and upcycled. Di mo kailangan bumili ng pagtataniman mo, di mo kailangan ng lupa or bagong seeds. Even recycled, we can use them to start," Andrada said.

Right now, they are partnering with schools and companies to replicate the project in other sites. They are also innovating in the production of fertilizers and other areas of agriculture.

"I really can't believe how far it's gone, and what other opportunities can happen," Gutierrez ended.

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