Sampaguita, the evocatively fragrant jasmine that symbolizes purity, devotion and fidelity and is the national flower of the Philippines, is also an important source of income for thousands of families in Metro Manila. The Philippines government has recently recognized the important role that the sampaguita industry plays in urban and peri-urban livelihoods and through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) participated in a meeting with a wide range of governmental and non-governmental institutions to explore ways to enhance the livelihood benefits for growers, local garland makers and the many wholesalers and retailers of flowers and garlands involved in the industry.   

The original impetus for the meeting were the concerns and worries that sampaguita traders expressed about the reported proposal of the DSWD to prohibit street children from selling sampaguita as part of efforts to improve the social welfare of street children. The sampaguita traders felt that a banning could lead to a collapse of the industry, since the street children are a main part of the marketing system.  Urban Harvest also participated in the meeting to provide information about research and development initiatives on sampaguita, including the actors involved and the problems and opportunities faced by the industry.  Secretary DinkySoliman, in charge of the Department of Social Work and Developmnet, was impressed with the scale of the industry: “ I never realized how big is this sampaguita we’ve stumbled upon!”.  She clarified that the DSWD does not wish to disrupt the existing sampaguita industry. On the contrary, they would like to enhance it. 

The meeting, which came about thanks to the initiative of UPWARD which works with Urban Harvest in the Philippines, agreed that the DSWD and other relevant actors would help strengthen market links for the sampaguita growers and garland makers.    A multi-stakeholder dialogue, to be organized by UPWARD/Urban Harvest is planned to include sampaguita farmers, traders, garland makers and contractors to meet with DSWD.  DSWD also proposed establishing a showcase sampaguita farm inside the Wildlife Parks in Manila, which will be a place to display the sampaguita plant, how garlands are made, and to show different products that can be made from the plant.  Meanwhile, research and development activities will continue on the constraints and opportunities already identified. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Secretary expressed the view that urban agriculture “could play an important role in their (the DSWD) poverty alleviation programs for the urban poor,”, adding  that urban agriculture could provide urban people with a productive alternative “to being exploited by politicians to join political rallies”.

Urban Harvest would like to recognize their investment partners for making all possible.BMZ, CIDA, DFID, IDRC, INIA, World Bank, Comunidad Madrid