Presented as part of ARDD Learning Event 9: From field to fork to field - Nutritious food and nutrient cycling to enhance health, wealth and resilience 18 June 2012, 11.30 – 13.00 Agriculture and Rural Development Day at Rio+20 Room A, Mezzanine Floor Speaker: Dr Robert Holmer, AVRDC The World Vegetable Centre Organisers: SIANI, SLU, IFAD, AVRDC and Sida Case: Allotment gardens Cagayan d Óro in the Philippines. This project was implemented to address some socio-economic and environmental challenges caused by the rapid growth of Cagayan de Oro which is representative for the Philippines being classified among the world’s fastest urbanizing countries. Among the major challenges that urban areas in the country are facing are: Availability, accessibility and affordability to safe and nutritious food for its residents. The poorest sector of the Philippines, which comprises almost 40% of all households, spends about 60% of its income on food. 20% of Filipinos are regularly suffering from hunger and about one third of all children are underweight with iron deficiency anemia and low vitamin. In 2003, the first allotment garden was established as part of a European Union funded project following a period of agronomic and socioeconomic researches in cooperation with universities, local government units and non-governmental organizations. As of 2008, this number has grown to ten self-sustaining gardens located in different urban and peri-urban areas of the city, three of them within the premises of public elementary schools enabling more than 100 urban poor families the legal access to land for food production. Each allotment garden has a compost heap where biodegradable wastes from the garden as well as from the neighboring households are converted into organic fertilizer, Urine diverting toilet systems were introduced to facilitate urine harvesting and improve the hygiene in the plots. Studies on the urine revealed application of urine increased the yield of sweet corn by an average of 14%. Similar experiments were also carried out for non-food crops in cooperation with commercial growers in different areas of Cagayan de Oro. The urine application resulted in earlier and increased flowering of different ornamental plants with subsequent better marketability. Robert Holmer – AVRDC The World Vegetable Centre. His areas of expertise are in sustainable vegetable production, postharvest and marketing as well as environmental management in Southeast Asia. He manages and coordinates regional development projects for AVRDC in East and Southeast Asia, with major responsibilities for developing partnerships, training programs and new projects. He holds a PhD in Agriculture from the TU München, Germany.

1. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
Vegetable gardens:
A nexus for agriculture, nutrition & health
Robert J. Holmer
Regional Director
AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center in East and Southeast Asia
Learning event 9:
From field to fork to field: nutritious food and nutrient recycling to
enhance health, wealth and resilience
1/ www.avrdc.org

2. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
Research to promote development
• Founded in 1971 as the Asian Vegetable
Research and Development Center with a
regional research focus on Asia.
• Our research and development is nonprofit.
Our research outputs are international public
goods.
• Re-branded in 2008 as AVRDC - The World
Vegetable Center.
• We have an expanding global role with a growing
network of regional offices
2/ www.avrdc.org

3. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
AVRDC in 2011
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4. The World Vegetable Center
AVRDC Genebank
vegetables + development
We now need: Not a
Green Revolution, but a
Revolution with
No. of accessions 59,294 Greens!
No. of species 435
No. of countries of origin 155
Total lines dispatched 6,119
The world’s largest public sector collection of vegetable germplasm
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5. The World Vegetable Center
Imbalanced Food Systems
vegetables + development
“Double burden of
disease”
For example in the
Philippines:
26 % of children 27 % of adults
underweight overweight or
Source: FNRI 2008
obese
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6. The World Vegetable Center
Imbalanced Food Systems
vegetables + development
Deficiency in = HUNGER ≥ 1.02 billion
calories + protein underweight
Deficiency in = MICRONUTRIENT
2 – 3.5 billion
vitamins & minerals DEFICIENCY malnourished
Excess
Calories = IMBALANCED
CONSUMPTION ≥ 2.0 billion
Physical overweight
inactivity
Source: FAO (2009); WHO (2006)
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7. The World Vegetable Center
Malnutrition
vegetables + development
• Vitamin A deficiency
– causes blindness and impairs the
immune system of about 40 % of the
children under the age of five in
developing countries, causing about
one million child deaths annually
• Anemia
– Every day, 300 women die in childbirth
as a result of iron deficiency anemia,
accounting for 20 % of global
maternal mortality
– Anemia among children can impair
health and development, limit learning
capacity, impair immune systems and Normal
concentration and
Decreased
concentration and
size of red blood size of red blood
reduce adult work performance. cells cells
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8. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
National vegetable availability vs. health/nutrition status:
Health status indicator: Nutrition status indicator:
Children under 5 mortality rate Children under 5 underweight
Veg availability
Countries Mortality rate (1/1000) Underweight (%)
(g/ person/day)
Source: FAOSTAT (2010), WHO (2010) Cambodia 85 93 36
Lao PDR 397 75 37
Viet Nam 230 30 20
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9. The World Vegetable Center
Relationship between malnutrition and infection
vegetables + development
Source: Brown (2003)
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10. The World Vegetable Center
Malnutrition and the link to sanitation
vegetables + development
• Effects of malnutrition – mortality, impairment of
cognitive development and educational
performance - can cost up to 9% of a country’s
Gross Domestic Product.
• Health impacts can be prevented by reducing
environmental health risks (e.g. improved
sanitation, water and hygiene) and improved
nutrition
• Multiplier effect: for every death prevented from
an environmental health intervention, additional
deaths from other diseases are averted (Mills-
Reincke phenomenon)
Source: World Bank (2008)
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11. The World Vegetable Center
Food and Nutrition Security
vegetables + development
• Nutrition security:
– “secure access to
appropriately nutritious food
coupled with a sanitary
environment, adequate health
services and care, to ensure a
healthy and active life for all
household members”
Source: DFID (2009)
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12. The World Vegetable Center
Why vegetables?
vegetables + development
• High value crops
• Relatively easy to grow in different
environments
• Provide employment, especially for
women and other vulnerable groups
• Generate income
• Provide micronutrients, vitamins,
dietary fiber, phytochemicals and
protein
• Contribute to balanced diets Vegetables
3-5 servings a day
1 serving = 80g
240 – 400g a day
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13. The World Vegetable Center
Why vegetables?
vegetables + development
Vegetable production
can take place in
small spaces and can
still be productive.
Ingenuity is the key!
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14. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
Indigenous treasures
Spider plant
African
eggplant
Nightshade
Butterfly Slippery
pea cabbage Amaranth Cowpea
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15. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
Indigenous treasures
5.8 4.4 3 75 194
2.7 4.4 2.2 113 186
0.4 1.8 0.9 37 44
4.6 3.3 1.7 120 135
0.9 3.2 1.3 157 157
0.5 1.1 1 10 9
1.7 3.5 3 42 270
0 1.1 0.2 7 23
0.2 0.9 0.6 30 9
Many indigenous vegetables have high nutritional content, they are
relatively very high in calcium, vitamin C and iron as compared to onions
and tomatoes
Slide source: adapted from Dalberg Report for BMGF
Data source: "Advancing urban agriculture through use of indigenous vegetables: African experiences 2009; Chapter 3”, by Ray-Yu Yang and Gudrun
B. Keding
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16. The World Vegetable Center
Why home gardens?
vegetables + development
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17. The World Vegetable Center
Anything new?
vegetables + development
Berlin, 1946
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18. The World Vegetable Center
Allotment Gardens Philippines
vegetables + development
... preparing the land
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19. The World Vegetable Center
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)
vegetables + development
Jeannette M.E. Tramhel. 2010. Using Participatory
Urban Design to "Close the Nutrient Loop" in the
Philippines. Urban Agriculture Magazine 23 - Urban
nutrient management, 30-31.
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20. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
FOOD FOOD
Closing the loop
between sanitation
and agriculture
NUTRIENTS NUTRIENTS
Pathogen
destruction
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21. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
Estimated annual excretion of nutrients per person (500 l of urine
and 50 kg of faeces)*:
Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium
(kg/capita) (kg/capita) (kg/capita)
Urine 2.3 – 4.0 0.3 – 0.4 0.9 - 1.1
Faeces 0.3 – 0.6 0.1 – 0.2 0.3 - 0.4
Total 2.6 – 4.6 0.4 – 0.6 1.2 – 1.5
* flushed away with about 10,000 liters of water as medium of transportation
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22. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
Monetary equivalents (PhP/capita and year) of annual excretion of
nutrients: per person:
Amount Cost Subtotal
(kg/year) (PhP/kg) (PhP/year)
Complete (14-14-14) 6.53 35.60 232.47
Urea (46-0-0) 3.65 33.20 121.18
MoP (0-0-60) 0.96 38.00 36.48
Total 390.13
Multiplied by 90 million Filipinos:
35.1 Billion Pesos (580 Mio Euro) worth of fertilizer equivalents go
down the drain every year polluting water bodies.
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23. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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24. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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25. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
Primary treatment (storage)
6 months 1 month
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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26. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
Diluting urine with water Side dress application
Preplant application of composted faeces
Reuse of ecosan products
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27. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
Secondary treatment
(aerobic & vermicomposting)
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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28. The World Vegetable Center
Ecological Sanitation
vegetables + development
• International guidelines are
FOOD
available, but:
• Lack of R&D investment to
develop local protocols that
best suit the agronomic
requirements of the crops
grown as well as the specific
socioeconomic, cultural,
and environmental realities
NUTRIENTS
of many NUTRIENTS countries
developing
• “Nexus”: another catchphrase
or real commitment?
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29. The World Vegetable Center
Potential of School Gardens
vegetables + development
• A school usually is the center
of each community
Healthy diets begin with
knowledge
• A place where programs on
good health practices can be
taught and implemented to
achieve behavioral changes at
home.
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30. The World Vegetable Center
Advantages of school-based programs
vegetables + development
• Promoting good health and nutrition
before and during school age is essential
to effective growth and development
Good health and nutrition are prerequisites for effective
learning
• The pre-existing infrastructure of the
educational system offers a cost-
effective route for delivery of simple
health interventions
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31. The World Vegetable Center
Philippine “Vegetable Gardens in Schools” Program
vegetables + development
• Establishment of vegetable
gardens in all 42,076 public
primary and secondary schools of
the country
Earlier successful lessons of vegetable gardening have to
be re-learned by a new generation
• To be complemented by home &
community gardens
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32. The World Vegetable Center
Strategies for successful implementation
vegetables + development
• Successful school garden programs
cannot be created in isolation, but have to
be linked with education and
environmental interventions
• Communication and
synergy between the
health, agriculture
and education
sectors is
indispensable
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33. The World Vegetable Center
Promotion of vegetables…
vegetables + development
…. sanitation, and healthy lifestyles
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34. The World Vegetable Center
vegetables + development
AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center
Prosperity for the Poor and Health for All
34 / www.avrdc.org www.avrdc.org