21-Year-Old Student Could Help Jumpstart Your Agribusiness Through Urban Gardening

A 21-year-old student could help you jumpstart your agribusiness plans through urban gardening.

Do you want to become a farmer but you live in the city with a limited space? You still can through urban gardening!

21-Year-Old Student Could Help Jumpstart Your Agribusiness Through Urban Gardening
Screengrab: The Urban Farmer TV via TikTok

Bea Suavengco is earning waves on TikTok through her “Urban Farmer TV” channel.

As an agriculture student specializing in crop production at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, she shares tips and simple steps to help millennials get interested in farming.

According to Bea, she wants the youth like her to understand that agriculture doesn’t always mean tilling land.

“I wanted to show people, especially the youth, that agriculture is not about tilling the land, but agriculture now is using modern technologies to produce food,” she said on CNN.

In 2020, Bea started her urban garden by building a vertical hydroponic garden in a 5 sqm space on the rooftop of their family home in Taguig.

She uses nutrient water and is able to produce at least 100 pieces of different vegetables monthly. Included in her harvest are different varieties of lettuce, bok choy, spinach, pechay and even strawberries.

21-Year-Old Student Could Help Jumpstart Your Agribusiness Through Urban Gardening
Screengrab: The Urban Farmer TV via TikTok

In June 2021, Bea and her friends won a P400,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) The Young Farmers Challenge Fund. It led them to starting their City-Farm project.

“City-Farm is a community-ran farm. May iba’t ibang group na pumupunta to help us manage the farm. At the same time, we provide them, sharing benefits and other incentives for helping us and the farm,” Bea explained.

Bea’s TikTok channel now has more than 73,000 followers and over 730,000 likes. Among her top videos include steps on how to create a DIY rooftop garden, nutrient water tips, and more.

“I started making videos on TikTok kasi I have this passion to teach people that they can actually grow their own food at home even with small spaces. It’s my way to empower people and encourage them to join the movement,” she said.

Urban farming is being made a priority by the DA with an allotment of P400 million under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2 act.

To inspire you to get into urban farming, you can learn how a 21-year-old started his hydroponics farming with only P1,000 capital.

Sally Mae

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