Bringing to life collaboration in organic growth
Mostly used in an abstract and corporate context, the words and phrases of our title found literal meaning following a July 2022 visit to Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines by Captain Krish Mundath, a Director of Synergy Group Operations Inc (SGOI).
With education and other priorities favouring the cities, Filipino farming has long lagged behind that of many other Southeast Asian countries, and climate change and economic difficulties have led to fertile land being sold for other development, hence further lack of investment, waning skills, dwindling acreage and infrastructure and scarce and expensive root crops and other vegetables. In order to combat this lack of supply, high cost and poor diet, SGOI has partnered with a local agency to help and encourage subsistence growers.
At the principal office of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Captain Mundath formally committed SGOI to helping SEARCA to train local tears and government officers in School Edible Landscaping for Entrepreneurship (SEL4E), describing the project as “deeply aligned with Synergy Marine Group’s aspiration toward one of its goals – zero hunger”.
Thus, starting in October 2022, SGOI has been providing funds, and this will continue until September 2024, with review and possible renewal at that stage.
First involving 11 Department of Education-nominated schools, this is a multi stakeholder project, with collaboration also from Pilipinas Shell and the provincial government. It seeks to improve people’s nutrition and general health, and its key concept is teaching and developing organic agriculture and landscaping, so the participants can first improve their own situation and then help to apply the same methods in their communities, all with great focus on common interest areas like education, training and research.
The SEL4E project has two components. First, there is basic training and screening for what is called the School-plus Home Gardens Program, which tests people’s suitability and also eligibility, and then Home Gardening for Improving the Nutrition and Health of Children and their Families, where the resulting produce supports a school-based feeding program and encourages the surrounding communities to adapt a similar way of planting and nurturing, and so later harvesting for themselves.
From 7-9 August 2023 various local school principals, teachers, coordinators and SGOI employees came together, first via Zoom, for many detailed presentations, with agricultural experts as keynote speakers on all aspects of school gardens, including nutrition and entrepreneurship. This was followed by gatherings on site in Los Baños, and also in Pililla, Rizal, east of Manila, from 10-11 August, and all the initial training was completed during that week.
And the project’s principles can be applied elsewhere.
For example, SGOI employees and many other Synergians could use the same ideas, as one of the core tenets is making the best use of limited space. The techniques are readily adaptable to gardens, yards and balconies worldwide, and – subject always to safety considerations – maybe also on board ship. Cultivation of vegetables to eat or flowers for pleasure offers saving, diversion and personal satisfaction, all of which combine to help with mental health and well-being.
