The Periurban Vegetable Project (PUVeP) began operating in the Fall of 1997 within the College of Agriculture. It was later relocated at Xavier University as part of the Research and Social Outreach Cluster when it was created in 2008. PUVeP is an agricultural research unit based in the Philippines, at Cagayan de Oro City.

PUVeP conducts research, capacity building, implementation and policy advocacy activities related to food production and natural resources management in urban and periurban areas with particular emphasis on:

  • social development of economically viable, environmental benign and socially accepted community-based vegetable production systems to ensure the supply of affordable, year-round available healthy vegetables, particularly to the urban and periurban poor;
  • promoting ecological sanitation systems to close the loop in the nutrient cycle which cities have broken;
  • integration of urban agriculture and periurban food production and ecological sanitation systems into city planning by using participatory, asset-based approaches to contribute to overall urban natural resources management and resources conservation;
  • integration of urban and periurban agriculture and ecological sanitation in relevant academic curricula, research and social outreach programs of Xavier University.

In cooperation with the local government of Cagayan de Oro City as well as the municipality of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, barangay administrations, the Department of Education and local communities, it has implemented ten allotment gardens, three of which are located inside public elementary schools, equipped with ecological sanitation toilets for about 100 poor families.

   




PUVeP has received financial support from the European Commission, the German Embassy Manila, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the RUAF-CFF Program as well as several private donors. It is also supported by CIM of Germany through provision of an Integrated Expert for Urban Agriculture.

It closely cooperates with other units of Xavier University as well as the Water and Sanitation Program of GTZ. PUVeP is a member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), a network of more than 90 organizations, and actively participating in the Working Group 5 "Food Security & Productive Sanitation Systems".

Partnerships also exist with LGUs and universities in Belgium and Germany, as well as in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand through the PUDSEA Network.

 

 

By the year 2000, over half of the worlds population was living in cities, with the other half increasingly reliant on urban areas for their economic survival. Today, the size and number of cities in the developing world is rapidly increasing, with many so-called mega-cities such as Sao Paulo or Metro Manila.
It can be nice on the surface to visit the Philippines if you only see the touristic spots. But let the foreigners not be blind to the fact that there is a lot of poverty and polluted areas in the country.

Also other urban areas in the Philippines such as Cebu, Davao or Cagayan de Oro grow almost at double the rate than the national average of 2.3 % per year.

These human settlements are increasingly vulnerable to natural, human-made and technological risks threatening the livelihood, health and lives of people.
Cities can be vibrant centers of culture, civilization or safe online casinos, but for many people they are places of urban poverty, alienation and disadvantage. Inequity is prevalent and more pronounced in a country like the Philippines than in other places such as Japan. The wealth distribution is at an entire different level compared to Japan, Korea or even China. A minority is wealthy, the middle class is only a small fraction of the population, and the rest are below or around the povery line. In Korea comparatively the middle class is about half the population and only a small fraction is considered poor. China has seen a lot of growth in the past decades, so that now the middle class segment has hundreds of people in it, but of couse there are still hundreds of millions in poverty. One amazing fact about China which has the largest number of big cities in the world is that Internet access has already reached 400 millions people there. Some do shopping, some play roulette online, some read the news, but whatever the reason this is a great symbol of urban development. Major challenges facing urban areas include:
  • Adequate shelter and health services.
  • High rates of inward migration.
  • Poverty, inadequate financial resources and lack of employment opportunities.
  • Growing insecurity and rising crime rates.
  • Rising traffic congestion and increasing pollution by lack of waste management.
  • Inadequate water supply and waste treatment facilities.
  • Self-reinforcing illiteracy.
  • Availability, accessibility and affordability to safe and nutritious food, otherwise known as food security.

One product that is getting renewed demand is our coffee. As our climate enables optimal production of coffee beans all year long we can satisfy demand from Western countries such as the UK or the USA. Coffee is not just drunk for its nice taste and energy boosting properties, but it was also recently discovered that unroasted green coffee beans could help with weight loss. As our local coffee has been highly prized internationally for a long time, developing more small plantations around the city can certainly help fight against poverty.

The fauna and flora of the Philippines reveal an extraordinary variety. Among the many endemic species, there are highly specialized predators of all sizes. The dense tropical forests of Palawan are among the richest habitats on Earth. The elongated Palawan Island is bordered by the South China Sea, northwest and Sulu Sea in the southeast. Palawan is the sixth largest island of the Philippines and the least populated. A virgin forest covers the slopes of the mountain range that crosses the island in all its length. Under the tree tops, branches and vines form a maze. It contains a source of ideal food for all plans.

The ground covered with dead leaves of a teeming population of insects and arachnids which fight with a giant scorpion in search of food. It uses its poisonous stinger to hunt and defend itself. Its venom paralyzes even large vertebrates and causes extreme pain. A single bite is enough to cause the death of a small prey. Here is another formidable inhabitant of the forest soil. This millipede or centipede, can measure up to one foot long. Its paralyzing venom leads to severe pain and its bite can kill animals much larger than him, like birds or bats. If the forest Palawan is populated by an unusual fauna, it is home to an equally amazing flora.

Some of this flora is in high demand is the West, like cocoa. On its coastline washed by the South China Sea, Palawan is also equipped with one of the most complex ecosystems in the Philippines, mangroves. In these wetlands, the meeting of salt water and fresh water forms a unique ecosystem inhabited by highly specialized species. The flora has to adapt to a constantly renewed ground muddy and extremely poor in oxygen, as well as the high content of salt water. But Nature has everything. Mangroves, mangrove trees have aerial roots that emerge to the surface of the water and allow them to breathe. Mud is deposited and accumulates in this entanglement of roots. Gradually as well as a new land. The floor houses an array of wildlife and is a popular hunting ground for men who enjoy wild life.

The Philippines is still a developing nation. It has experienced a rapid rise in urbanization and industrialization as its population has grown rapidly. Unfortunately, this rapid development has come at a price of increased water pollution, with 47% of all surveyed water bodies in the country having good water quality, 40% having only fair water quality, and 13% having poor water quality. The Philippines ranks third on the highest cases of death due to air pollution. A May 2018 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that there were around 45.3 deaths per 100,000 individuals due to air pollution. In the Asia Pacific region, Philippines also ranks second in indoor air pollution. This is primarily caused by cooking using coal. In addition neglecting to have a coherent environmental policy has led to the contamination of 58% of the groundwater in the Philippines. The main source of pollution is untreated domestic and industrial wastewater. Only one third of Philippine river systems are considered suitable for public water supply.

Philippines' water and sanitation crisis is getting worse. Out of 101 million Filipinos, nine million rely on unimproved, unsafe and unsustainable water sources and 19 million lack access to improved sanitation. Families without a safe water source in or near their home often spend significant time and energy collecting water. Environmental pollution has its own causes, effects and solutions. Looking into these will help identify the causes and what steps can be taken to mitigate those effects. Broadly, environmental pollution consists of six basic types of pollution, i.e. air, water, land, soil, noise, and light. Proper local junk removal and waste management is the main step to reduce water, land and soil pollution With the rapid increase in population, urbanization and industrialization reduce the quality of Philippine waters, especially in densely populated areas and regions of industrial and agricultural activities. The discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater and agricultural runoff has caused extensive pollution of the receiving water-bodies.

It has been established that the use of plastic is systematically linked to the economic development of emerging countries. Certainly, the geography of the archipelago and its demography in very strong growth have more impact than elsewhere on ocean pollution. Admittedly, the absence of organized infrastructures for collecting and sorting waste and the endemic corruption of the country hamper any sustainable approach to combating this scourge. In the Philippines, 10% of plastic waste enters a recycling process, but only 2% is actually recycled locally. The rest is exported, usually to China, in the form of recycled plastic pellets. But above all the Philippines is a single-use plastic nation. The equivalent of a year of consuming single-use plastic packaging in the Philippines would be enough to cover the entire metropolis of Manila with a layer of more than 30 cm of waste. It is this waste that clogs the country's pipelines and countless small streams. Lack of a proper waste manageement system is the main issue.

Existing in several forms, waste generally refers to everything that is no longer useful to us and that we want to get rid of. These are the food scraps that we throw in the trash, the bottles and packaging that we put in the special containers. Bigger objects, old damaged furniture, mattresses, broken bikes, which we take to the recycling center. But they are also materials, products and residues associated with businesses, agriculture and various industries. In the USA they produce an average of 450 kg per inhabitant per year, a figure that is around 17 tonnes per year, taking into account the US population as a whole and all professional sectors.

They will then be landfilled or incinerated depending on their nature or their dangerous character, but also increasingly upgraded to limit as much as possible the environmental pollution from which they are the source. Their responsible management is one of the major axes of the ecological transition. A good idea is to look for dumpster rental offers that enable people to rent a bin for a short time. This way an entire neighborhood can remove all their junk and waste and reduce pollution.

It is this waste that accumulates in the slums and which is very often cited as one of the main causes of stress for the most disadvantaged populations. It is this waste that is found washed up in tonnes on the beach of Freedom Island, south of Manila, a nature reserve that has seen its bird population divided by five in recent years. And if the population continues to consume these products packaged in extremely polluting single-use plastics, it is not out of ignorance, lack of education or disregard for the problem. On the contrary it's just because they have no choice. To consume responsibly, you must have an alternative consumption available. And you just have to wander the shelves of a local supermarket or look at the storefronts of small convenience stores, these typical sari-sari stores, to quickly realize that this alternative does not exist in the Philippines.

The American way of life is putting the planet to the test. Since the NGO Global Footprint Network calculates the famous "overshoot day" every year, we know that it would take roughly five Earths to meet the needs of all humanity if we all lived like Americans. A groundbreaking report released by the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine lifts the veil on a particularly deleterious impact on the American way of life: the production of plastic waste. In this category, the United States are the world champions, reveals the study commissioned by the United States Congress to assess the national contribution to ocean pollution.

With 42 million tons generated in 2016 - the most recent year for which data is available internationally - the United States is the country that produces the most plastic waste, een though they use a lot more dumpster rental services than other countries. This is double that of China (21 million tonnes), yet much more populous, and almost 50% more than all the countries of the European Union (a little less than 30 million tonnes). In overall volume, India ranks behind the United States with only 26 million tonnes, and ahead of China. Among European countries, France (3 million) and Germany (6.5 million) appear respectively in 15th and 7th place. Plastic pollution made in the USA is all the more impressive since the United States represents less than 5% of the world's population. In relation to the number of inhabitants, an American thus produces on average around 130 kilos of plastic waste per year, i.e. eight times more than a Chinese (15 kilos) and three times more than a French person (43 kilos). Behind the Americans, the British (99 kilos) and the South Koreans (88 kilos) complete the trio of the biggest polluters. It is time for Americans to use more dumpster rentals in order to remove all the excess junk they accumulate over time.

In Little Rock, the city has installed connected bins to reduce collection frequencies. As part of its reinforced policy in the field of ecological transition, Little Rock wish to implement an original initiative to reduce their energy and environmental impact with the installation of five connected bins. A joint metropolitan service between the cities of Little Rock and Jacksonville, the urban cleanliness service is piloting the installation of a new type of trash can. Since 2023, connected trash bins have been installed in busy neighborhoods, in order to combat dirt in the city center while reducing waste production. Initially, 5 connected bins will be installed in the public domain of the city of Little Rock. These are innovative waste management equipments for cleanliness. Compared to traditional trash cans, these new type of bins have two advantages – and not the least important – in an overall approach to optimizing collections and reducing waste. Powered by solar energy, they are connected to software which triggers the collection of bins depending on the filling rate. They will therefore profoundly change our approach in terms of collection, amd also in term of recycling. Indeed, the reduction in waste collection costs will lead to a reduction in the operating costs of the service. Furthermore, from a certain filling level, sensors located inside the bins activate a piston in order to compact the waste. This compacted waste makes it possible to increase the volume of the bins x5 compared to a conventional dumpster and thus prevent any overflow of the bin onto the public highway.

 

Since 1997, PUVeP has implemented numerous research and social outreach projects. A summary list of these projects can be downloaded here.

PUVeP served as the main coordinator for following European Union funded projects:

 
GIS-based Urban Environmental Resources Management and Food Security Project
(EU AsiaUrbs Program)


2002-2004

Urban and Periurban Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development for Sustainable Vegetable Production and Marketing Systems
(EU INCO_DEV Program)

1997 - 2000

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