A helping hand and many green thumbs: local government, citizens and the growth of a community-based food economy

Abstract

Minority world consumers are being asked to rethink about their I-ness fixations and the individualism apparent in community food practice. Meanwhile, poor and economically marginalised in the majority world are prioritising civic we-ness and taking collective responsibility for meeting local food needs. In Mindanao in the Philippines, a municipality-wide communal gardening project is feeding malnourished children in schools, supporting poor families in self-provisioning and generating income and employment opportunities for volunteer gardeners. As such, it is benefiting the individual households and the community simultaneously. Of interest is how different actors within this project “successfully” negotiate I-ness and civic we-ness in ways that achieve desired outcomes such as reduced malnutrition. In this paper, I examine the ethical economic decision making of various actors within the Opol Food Project in Mindanao. I reveal how economic decisions are generating social surplus, creating and sustaining commons and building a community-based food economy. I also demonstrate the valuable role that local government can play in enabling and cultivating civic we-ness and in building a different food future.

Keywords:

• community gardens
• the Philippines
• local government
• community economy
• ethical practice

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Eddie Maape, Dixon Yasay, Mayor Dexter Yasay and the communal gardeners and zone leaders in Barra, Opol for their willingness to share their experiences and knowledge of how the Opol Food Project operates. I thank them in particular for their tolerance and graciousness in dealing with my many questions and limitations as a westerner looking on. Thanks also to the members of the Community Economies Collective in particular Katherine Gibson and Julie Graham, and also to Doracie Nantes for constructive criticisms, insightful comments, and editorial suggestions in relation to earlier drafts and the broader research project. Finally heart felt thanks to Jenny Cameron and Kersty Hobson and the two anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments and suggestions helped to refine and polish this piece.

Notes

“Community” is a slippery concept. No utopian inference of an always caring, sharing and inclusive group of people is intended. In this paper, community along with “local” is used with spatial reference to both neighbourhood- and municipality-wide networks and activities. Following Mathie and Cunningham, this paper connects community in “community development” to citizen-to-citizen ties and negotiations around “active citizenship” and civic we-ness (Mathie and Cunningham 2003, p. 475, DeLind 2010).

In April 2009 forty people from local governments, NGOs and community groups involved in gardening/farming projects across Mindanao, attended a 3-day regional food workshop held at SEARSOLIN, Xavier University.

This paper is part of a broader doctoral research project entitled “Growing Community Food Economies for a 21st Century world”. One of the objectives of this project is to conceptualise a community food economy.

I use this example merely to indicate that food security is on the national government agenda in the Philippines. I do not intend to set up motivations for the OFP with this mention. In fact, the Municipality of Opol did not qualify for funding under EO776, as statistically it was not among the municipalities deemed most needy. Also, note that it is unclear as to whether EO776 is still in effect post the change of government in May 2010.

This estimate of the key period in which the OFP was established is based on anecdotal evidence. The project is ongoing and it continues to develop.

A low estimate based on anecdotal evidence. Every communal garden supplies 20–50 meals a day for 1 week in a month.

The author's doctoral research project has also played a role in generating and shaping ideas in ways that lead to new practice. Eddie Maape introduced the author to the OFP at the regional food workshop in 2009. The author and other participants introduced Eddie and Dixon Yasay to communal gardening projects in Cagayan de Oro and elsewhere. These webs of connection are growing and strengthening local practice.

This urban container gardening project in Manila (UCG) is another component of the doctoral research project. At the time of writing, NGO worker Perfecto Rom Jr and Dr Doracie Nantes at ANU were working with the author on a UCG publication.