New Project to Combat Food Insecurity in the Philippines Through Vegetable Intercropping

ZAMBOANGA PENINSULA, PHILIPPINES – A new 2-year project from East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Philippines aims to increase food security in Mindanao Island’s Zamboanga Peninsula while enhancing the livelihoods of 12,600 smallholder upland farmers and reducing the effects of climate change on farming.

The ZamPen SIVI project (Sustainable Intensification Through Vegetables Intercropping in Perennial Crops Farming Systems in Zamboanga Peninsula, Mindanao Island, Philippines) seeks to improve soil health, farm profitability, and community nutrition through vegetable intercropping. Farmers will learn how to use Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Natural Farming System (NFS) technologies to produce high-quality vegetables and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Through inclusive outreach efforts, the ZamPen SIVI project aims to ensure that at least half of the farmers reached through the project are women or youth.

Intercropping vegetables with perennial coconut, cacao, coffee, and rubber crops will raise farmers’ income and increase the supply of safe-to-eat vegetables for consumers in an area where many residents are undernourished. Promoting sustainable farming methods will also improve soil fertility, contributing to long-term food security in alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger).

“One marvelous benefit of this project is toward nutrition. The additional vegetables produced by farmers will enable the flow of a wider variety of safer-to-eat and more affordable vegetables for lower-income consumers,” said Stuart Morris, Executive Director of East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation, at the project’s launch in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

The launch event brought together a variety of stakeholders, including Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), government partners, and EWS-KT leaders and staff, along with farmer representatives from each province in Zamboanga Peninsula.

ZamPen SIVI is co-funded by Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA)–Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund (BKCF), with project management by GGGI.

East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Philippines will be implementing the project, with logistical support from MinDA and government partners, including the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office Zamboanga Peninsula, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in Zamboanga del Norte, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in Zamboanga del Sur, and the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in Zamboanga Sibugay.