Making Healthy, Sustainably-Grown Food More Accessible to Filipinos

January 2018

Members of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines’ The Sustainable Diner: A Key Ingredient for Sustainable Tourism project team, together with Mr. Muneer Arquion Hinay and Mr. Zeth Antaran of the Sustainable Food project team, met with Mr. Ralph Becker and Ms. Lexi Payumo of Urban Greens Hydroponic Farm Systems last January 19, 2018 at the Urban Greens Farmers Market in RCBC Plaza, Makati City. Urban Greens was founded on October 2016 with its mission to evolve the Philippines’ vegetable food scene by introducing greens that are cleaner, fresher, and smartly-grown via hydroponics. The company is one of the participants of the WWF-Philippines x Impact Hub Fellowship on Agriculture.

According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization last 2016, the Philippines has the lowest vegetable intake in Asia, and with the availability of large-scale hydroponic rooftop and indoor systems, Urban Greens hopes to encourage the sustainable consumption and production of vegetables without using soil and using less water compared to conventional farming, and to address the issue of limited land availability especially in urban areas. The result is non-GMO food with no need for pesticides, fertilizers, and fungicides grown without using land resource.

The meeting sparked ideas for collaboration between WWF-PH and Urban Greens, since both advocate for the goal of making great tasting and healthy food more accessible to Filipinos. The attendees also had the first hand experience on how the hydroponic towers - called aerospring indoors - work.

The Sustainable Diner team is looking forward to future collaborations with Urban Greens throughout the 3-year duration of the sustainable consumption and production project!

The Sustainable Diner project, under WWF-Philippines’ Sustainable Consumption and Production, is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.​