Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BillNo,__ 7009

Introduced by Representative Sharon S. Garin

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In recent times, multiple statistics from studies conducted by multiple
agencies reveal a problematic trend of hunger, wasting, and undernutrition in
‘our young children, particularly our school children.

According to 2012-2013 figures of the Department of Education
(DepEd), more than half a million or 534,054 Filipino schoolchildren are
malnourished and severely wasted, meaning that they are too thin for their
height. The most recent Global School-based Health Survey by the World
Health Organization (WHO) from 2011 also reported that 11.8% of surveyed
Filipino students aged 13-15 years old were underweight.

This is problematic as though a student's life can be exciting and
exhilarating, it can also be grueling and exhausting. Undernutrition and hunger
adversely affects a child's ability to learn and hinders them from achieving their
full potential. It disrupts a child's mental and physical development, which may
ultimately lead to poor productivity in adulthood. Furthermore, it makes them
more vulnerable to diseases, disabilities, and even death.

This bill seeks to battle undernutrition, as well as promote health and
nutrition in school children and the community in general. This is done by
establishing a National Farm to School Program, which is a school-based
strategy that focuses on creating a healthy school food environment. This
program has already been implemented in various states and locales in the
United States resulting in great outcomes. Farm to School implementation
differs by location but almost always include the following: (a) Procurement,
where local foods are purchased, promoted, and served to school children; (b)
Education, where students participate in educational activities related to
agriculture, food, health and nutrition; and (c) Schoo! Gardens, where students
engage in hands-on learning through in-school farming and gardening.


Farm to School Programs provide a variety of benefits to students,
parents, schools, communities and food producers. Key outcomes in student
health and achievement have included improvement in early childhood eating
behaviors, including choosing healthier options in school canteens, consuming
more fruits and vegetables through supplementary feeding programs, and
willingness to try new foods and healthier options. There is also anecdotal
evidence that children are more inclined to eat healthier when they or their
friends grew their own food or they know the garden where it was grown.

Farm to school programs also provide benefits to education by promoting food
and agriculture-based learning activities to enhance the quality of the
educational experience. This leads to an increase in knowledge and awareness
about gardening, agriculture, and instill in children the values of good health,
proper nutrition, hard work, and responsibility. All this, ultimately leads to
enhanced overall academic achievement for our school children.

Farm to school likewise provide economic development opportunities to
local economies by mandating the procurement of food from local farms and
producers to be used in its program components.

With this novel, integrated, and common sense approach to child
nutrition, Farm to School will provide far more cross-sectoral benefits than other
regular health and nutrition programs of the government. It is the hope of this
Representation, that this bill be approved for the benefit of the school children
and their communities.

SH GARIN
AAMB Party-list


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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

9
House Bill No. we

Introduced by Representative Sharon S. Garin

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the
“Farm to School Program Act.”
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared the

policy of the State to protect the right to health of the people and
take appropriate action to promote their health and proper nutrition.
The State also recognizes the importance of agricultural
productivity and the valuable contribution of local and farm
producers in economic development, thus, it shall implement
programs to support and strengthen local agricultural industries.
Towards this end, the government shall establish a

comprehensive and integrated program that connects schools,


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children, farmers and food entrepreneurs to local communities to
promote nutrition, facilitate agricultural productivity, stimulate local
economy and provide cross-sectoral benefits in areas of public
health, economy, education and the environment to achieve the
following objectives:

a) Ensure that proper health and nutrition information are
given to school children throughout their childhood years;

b) Improve child nutrition by focusing on creating a health
food environment in schools and early care educational institutions;

c) | Support and influence children's development towards
healthy eating habits through proper education on good food
sources and teach them how to make informed food choices, such
as preferences for fruits and vegetables;

d) Establish and maintain school gardens as accessible
and readily-available sources of healthy and nutritious vegetables
and food for school children;

e) Ensure access of students to healthy and nutritious food
through supplementary school-based feeding programs to mitigate
malnourishment among school children; and

f) Enhance the general well-being of the community by
encouraging schools, their students and their families to purchase

from local producers of healthy and nutritious foods at the same time


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stimulating local economies and providing economic development
opportunities to local food producers and laborers, distributors,
processors and others who support the local food system.

SEC. 3. Farm to School Program. — To carry the out the
policy mentioned under Section 2 of this Act, there shall be
established a Farm to School Program through which primary and
secondary schools provide education to school children on food and
nutrition, health and agriculture and undertake activities to ensure
the availability of and accessibility to safe, healthy, nutritious and
locally produced agricultural food products in school. The Farm to
School Program shall have the following components:

a) — In-School Farm Program;

b) National School Feeding Program; and

c) Farm Visits Program.

For the purpose of this Act, “farm to school program" refers to
an alternative approach of enriching the connection that school
communities have with fresh and healthy agricultural food and their
local producers by educating and undertaking experiential learning
activities with the goal of improving the nutrition and food purchasing
practices of children and at the same time strengthening the local
economy. It includes health and nutrition promotion through

integrated academic lesson on vegetable production, farming and


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animal rearing as well as hands-on and practical application through
in-school projects and out-of-school excursions, provision for
supplementary nourishment for school children, sectoral
collaboration and partnership with community organizations.

SEC. 4. In-School Farm Program. — As one major
component of Farm to School Program, the Department of
Education (DepEd) shall establish and maintain an in-school farm
or garden in every primary and secondary school and implement an
In-School Farm Program to:

a) Establish and promote vegetable production in public
elementary and secondary schools;

b) Serve as a hands-on educational laboratory in teaching
agriculture and agricultural concepts; and

c) Raise the awareness of school children on the
nutritional and health value of agricultural food products and instill
the importance of good health, proper nutrition, and hard work.

The DepEd shall be the lead agency in the implementation of
the in-school farm program and shall formulate a guideline of
requirements in the implementation of the program. The DepEd
shall structure a timetable to ensure that primary and secondary

schools have their own garden for healthy fruits and vegetables.


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In line with this, the DepEd shall closely coordinate with the
Department of Agriculture, the National Nutrition Council, the
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and local
government units (LGUs) for the construction and funding
requirements necessary in the proper implementation of the
program.

SEC. 5. Role of the Department of Agriculture. — The
Department of Agriculture shall identify and accredit farmer
organizations and cooperatives who may supply the provisions for
gardening. It shall also provide technology and technical assistance
and conduct trainings and seminars to teach students, teachers and
parents about school gardening.

SEC. 6. Role of the National Nutrition Council. — The
National Nutrition Council shall provide a list of preferred vegetables
that help address malnutrition problems in schools that prioritize
planting.

SEC. 7. Role of the Department of the Interior and Local
Government. — The Department Interior and Local Government
and the local government units shall assist the schools by providing
idle government lands and land resources to be used in the in-

school farm program.


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SEC. 8. Inclusion of Vegetable Production in Academic
Curriculum. — Subjects and lessons in vegetable production shall
be included in the academic curriculum for primary and secondary
level students of both public and private schools to develop the skills
and knowledge in vegetable production and promote agricultural
literacy.

SEC. 9. Product Utilization.— Products from in-school farm
program shall be primarily used for the national school feeding
program. Surplus vegetables may be sold to generate income for
the purchase of other food supplies for the national school feeding
program or additional resources for the improvement of the school
gardens.

SEC. 10. National School Feeding Program (NSFP). — The
National School Feeding Program is hereby established as an
alternative approach of providing free supplementary meals to
students. The DepEd shall design a program menu using the
product from the in-school farm program and other healthy foods
sold by local producers.

In coordination with the DepEd, the following national
government agencies are tasked to make available such resources
as may be necessary to ensure the successful implementation of

the NSFP:


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a) The DA and the National Food Authority shall tap
farmers associations and cooperatives in the locality for possible
sources of food supplies and shall share with the DepEd any
available resources and facilities that may be used for the NSFP;

b) The DILG shall enlist the support of LGUs as DepEd
partners in the operation of the NSFP, including the possibility of
utilizing the services of barangay nutrition scholars and barangay
health workers; and

c) The National Nutrition Council, in coordination with the
Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), shall provide the
menu consisting of a combination of foods that meet the
recommended energy and nutrient intake of children and use locally
produced food and food products as far as possible.

SEC. 11. Priority LGUs. — In case of shortage of funds,
priority in the implementation of the NSFP shall be given to
municipalities and cities which are determined by the National
Nutrition Council or by any competent government agency to have
high malnutrition rates.

SEC. 12. Participation of Parent-Teacher Associations
(PTAs). — The DepEd shall promote the involvement of parents
through the PTAs in the planning, implementation, monitoring and

evaluation of the school feeding program.


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SEC. 13. Procurement, Storage and Handling System. —
The procurement, storage and handling of appropriate food supplies
by the
DepEd shall be upon the recommendation of the National Nutrition
Council, the FNRI and other appropriate government agencies.

In the procurement process, priority shall be given to the
utilization of locally produced food supplies, as well as the products
of the in-school farm program and the products of community
gardens as part of convergence efforts to increase food supplies at
the local level.

The DepEd shall issue the guidelines necessary for the
effective implementation of the procurement, storage and handling
system.

SEC. 14. Farm Visits Program. — The DepEd shall require
that at least 25% of educational tours and field trips to be conducted
by public and private primary and secondary schools every
academic year shall be devoted to local farms and factories of local
food producers or in those places involved in the planting, growing,
harvesting, processing, packaging or distribution of food products
from agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries; this also includes those
involved in the raising, rearing or of animals and livestock including

pork, beef, poultry, and other farm animals.


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This further includes Farm Tourism Camps, as defined in RA
10816, which refer to any farm area that allows visitors and tourists
to visit, get involved in farm activities, and to enjoy and learn rural
lifestyle.

SEC. 15. Monitoring and Evaluation System. — The DepEd
shall establish a monitoring and evaluation system for the
nationwide implementation of the Farm To School Program, which
shall incorporate periodic reports from the schools division and
regional offices. The report provides, among others, the needed
information that may determine whether or not the program has
achieved its objectives, including the identification of issues and
constraints as well as the corresponding appropriate
recommendations.

SEC. 16. Appropriations. — The amount necessary for the
initial implementation of this Act shall be charged against the current
appropriation of the DepEd. Thereafter, such sum as may be
necessary for its continued implementation shall be included in the
annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 17. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within
ninety (90) days from the approval of this Act, the Secretary of
Education shall, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture and

consultation with the heads of government agencies, formulate the


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necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of
this Act.

SEC. 18. Separability Clause. — If any provision of this Act
is held invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not so
declared shall remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 19. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, orders,
rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions
of this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 20. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15)
days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of

general circulation.

Approved,