Bio-Intensive Gardening (BIG)
Since the 1980s, IIRR has utilized Bio-Intensive Gardening (BIG) technology whereby a small area of land is intensively cultivated using nature’s own ingredients to rebuild and then maintain the soil’s productivity. Starting in 2005, IIRR began a ‘BIG Intensification Program’ that has brought BIG technology, health and nutrition education directly into the classrooms and compounds of over 100 poor, rural schools in the Philippines, thus reducing malnutrition and providing life-long agricultural skills to communities. IIRR’s BIG efforts have now reached Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Nepal and Thailand.
Currently, IIRR is working to expand its Bio-Intensive Gardens to 50 schools in Cavite, Philippines by December 2012.
In the Philippines, thousands suffered near starvation following the collapse of the sugar industry in the 1980s. Poor nutrition is still prevalent and particularly harmful to school-aged children in rural areas, resulting in low educational achievement and stunted growth.
