Barangays across the country are taking community gardening seriously, making food security a consistent and accountable part of local governance.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) affirms that barangay gardens are now being treated not as temporary initiatives but as part of their regular services. By doing so, barangays ensure sustainability, multi-sector participation, and alignment with national goals on food access and poverty alleviation.

This strategy is aligned with DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2023-001, titled “Implementation of the HAPAG sa Barangay Project.”

According to DILG monitoring of the HAPAG sa Barangay program, to date, a total of 24,933 barangays have food gardens. These efforts account for a combined land area of over seven million square meters. Regions VIII, III, and CALABARZON recorded the highest barangay participation, with thousands of reported garden sites linked to nutrition, DRRM, and livelihood initiatives.

In some provinces, barangay councils have begun coordinating with their local development councils and municipal agriculture offices to allocate regular funding for soil enrichment, seeds, fencing, and small irrigation tools. Barangay Nutrition Committees and Sangguniang Kabataan councils are also contributing manpower and monitoring support for these community gardens.

The DILG commits to providing continuous guidance to ensure that local plans remain inclusive and nutrition-sensitive. Regional and provincial field offices have been tasked to support barangays in identifying available public lands, integrating garden development into their investment pipelines, and reporting outcomes through appropriate platforms.

The Department encourages all barangays to revisit their existing development plans and ensure that food and nutrition programs are formally embedded, not just as one-off interventions, but as governance priorities with community ownership. This policy shift reflects the government’s whole-of-community approach to food security: ensuring that Filipinos not only have access to food today, but have systems in place that protect that access in the future.

Original Article At: https://www.dilg.gov.ph/news/Barangays-Cultivating-Change-thru-HAPAG-Gardens/NC-2025-1084