Objective-led Integrated Assessment on Organic Urban Gardening (Square-foot Gardening) in Malaybalay City

Food security is affected by climate change since it is a climate-sensitive sector, especially in the Philippines, which is considered highly vulnerable country to climate change. Efforts to secure food in the country have been implemented by various sectors and organizations. Hence, the project on modeling organic production and enhancing climate resiliency in Malaybalay City. The study was undertaken to assess the adaptability and sustainability of organic urban gardening in enhancing climate resiliency among small-holder farmers and highlights lessons generated by the project collaborators. Data were collected through a pre and post evaluation scheme using a semi-structured questionnaire to determine community characteristics and needs before project implementation and the short-term impacts two years after the project implementation. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, frequencies, percentages, and means were used to analyze the data. The study was able to determine positive socio-economic characteristics and attitudes for the successful adoption of the project. The study revealed that the receiving community has a highly favorable attitude and willingness to adopt organic urban gardening for climate resiliency. Comparing the results of the pre-evaluation and the short-term impact assessment, it can be concluded that the community gained positive impacts due to the implementation of organic urban gardening or square-foot gardening for food security and climate resiliency by the project proponent. Social, economic, and environmental impacts were identified to have improved after project implementation. Thus, project scaling-up can be recommended.  