A needs assessment pre-survey was conducted in a course of two weeks, from April 21 to May 4, 2024 in Barangay Batong Malake, Los Baños, Laguna, using printed questionnaires passed out to each potential respondent. Respondents were selected through quota sampling, a sampling method used when the population of interest is large, but there are no pre-made lists to select each respondent (Lammers & Badia, 1982). The samples chosen are a microcosm of the larger population of interest. The sample might not accurately reflect the population that we want to generalize to, even if the quotas are met and it matches the population percentages for subsets (Lammers & Badia, 1982).
Barangay Batong Malake, which is the largest barangay of the municipality of Los Baños in terms of land area, consists of eight puroks (zones), namely: Purok 1, which covers the intersection between Lopez Avenue and a section of the National Highway; Purok 2, which consists of El Danda Street; Purok 3 (one side of Bangkal Street); Purok 4 (Umali Subdivision); Purok 5 (Raymundo); Purok 6 (Grove, Santa Fe, and Riverside Subdivision); Purok 7 (Jamboree Site); and Purok 8 (Forestry Compound). Four participants were selected from each purok, except for Puroks 4 and 7, where three participants were chosen. Each respondent was selected by every ten doors. As of the latest Registry of Barangay Inhabitants declared that there were 16,894 inhabitants, with 4,582 households. Notably, the main source of livelihood in Batong Malake is the services sector. All population-related information through the RBI (Registry of Barangay Inhabitants) was published in 2020.
A total of 30 individuals participated in this pre-survey, which was intended to gauge their knowledge, interests, and motivations on urban gardening as well as potential challenges and barriers that prevent them from starting their own urban farms. In addition, the pre-survey determined the modes of instruction preferred by every participant. To select each participant, the instructional designer visited all eight puroks (zones) of Batong Malake, selecting new participants by knocking on at least every ten doors. Some of the participants were given paper questionnaires; in which they must agree to a privacy clause that stated that all information provided shall solely be used for the purpose of the study, for them to respond to themselves, while others were personally interviewed by the researcher, writing all the information the interviewee spoke if they chose not to respond to the questionnaires themselves.
A majority of the pre-survey respondents, or twenty-one individuals (73.33%) were female, while the remaining nine respondents (26.67%) were male. Seventeen (56.67%) of those who participated in the pre-survey had monthly incomes ranging from PHP0 to PHP 10,000. Six (20%) declared that they earned between PHP10,000 and PHP25,000 every month, while four (13.33%) earned between PHP25,000 and PHP50,000. One respondent had a monthly income of over PHP50,000 and another one said that they earn at least PHP100,000 monthly, while one participant refused to disclose his monthly income. Nine respondents owned businesses, particularly sari-sari stores, carinderias, and grocery stores. Three participants were farmers, two participants were public servants, while four have already retired. One respondent was a “volunteer worker” at her church, one was a librarian, and another said that she was “self-employed” without further specifying her field or profession. Two participants were students, two were teachers, while three were unemployed. Yet another respondent refused to state his current occupation. The youngest respondent, a senior high school student, was 18 years old, while the oldest, a retired widow, was 75 years old. One respondent did not provide her age.
The median age of the respondents who provided their ages was 55 years old. Nine respondents (30%) stated that they completed high school, while another nine respondents (30%) graduated with bachelors’ degrees. Two (6.67%) participants finished only elementary school, while four (13.33%) received post-graduate degrees, including masteral and doctoral programs. Five (16.67%) took up TVET (technical and vocational education and training) programs. Eighteen (60%) of all respondents were married, eight (26.67%) were single, three were widowed, while one separated from their spouse. 76.67% of the respondents were Catholics, 13.33% were Born Again Christians, and 10% adhered to Iglesia ni Cristo.
A majority of respondents earned less than PHP10,000 per month, while 6 earned between PHP10,000 to PHP25,000. This implies that the proposed instructional material is indeed intended for the “less privileged” sector, particularly those who are interested in urban gardening, but do not have the sufficient financial and material resources to pursue it.
Almost three-quarters of the respondents (73.33%) stated that they had some degree of experience in gardening, with the remainder declaring that they had no gardening experience. 26 out of 30 respondents have planted a variety of plants in the past, with eggplant, tomato, and kangkong as the most common crops. Eleven participants stated that they have planted tomatoes in the past, ten planted calamansi (a citrus fruit native to the Philippines), nine planted chilies, nine planted kangkong (water spinach), eight planted tomatoes, and four planted squash. Six participants said that they have planted “ornamentals” including bird-of-paradise. In addition, at least ten participants declared that they had once planted fruits, including rambutan, lanzones, marang, and durian. Lastly, there are three participants who stated that they have never planted any crops before.
A majority of the participants were employed and had an average age of 50.39 years. 10 participants have completed a bachelor’s degree in college while 9 finished high school; 5 even pursued vocational degrees. While most of these participants say that they want to start their own urban garden, many of them stated that they have barriers to face when starting these gardens, including temporal and financial constraints, insufficient land area, and concerns from their neighbors. Hence, the learners of the urban farming education program shall be taught on how to maximize their small land space for an urban garden or start a container garden if they cannot plant on the ground. The survey revealed that 76.67% of respondents expressed interest in starting their own urban gardens, with 18 wanting a small space (less than 10 square meters), six wanting a medium space (10-100 square meters), and three wanting a large space (at least 100 square meters). In the past, 73.33% of respondents had some gardening experience, with 26 out of 30 planting various plants. The most common crops were eggplant, tomato, and kangkong, all of which are grown for food. While a few other participants said that they have raised ornamental plants, such plants are excluded from the urban gardening education as it focuses on growing staple crops, particularly fresh produce, on small land areas to alleviate food insecurity. Through constructive approaches in pedagogy, learners are expected to build upon previous gardening experiences and knowledge through novel, engaging hands-on gardening activities to build upon what they already know on farming.
With the pre-survey respondents’ overwhelming interest in starting urban gardens, there is a need for a collaborative, interactive element in cultivating food crops in the urban gardening program amid a small area for planting. For instance, community gardens highlight urban gardening as a form of socialization and the constructivist pedagogical approach reinforces learning as a collaborative activity as the learner constructs knowledge over their previous experiences.
Twelve respondents stated that they were familiar with organic farming, while nine respondents did not know any specific gardening practice. An overwhelming majority of respondents (76.67%) expressed their interest in starting their own urban gardens. 18 respondents wish to use a “small” space, which is defined in the survey as an outdoor plot of land less than 10 square meters in area, for their garden. Six wanted to start theirs using a “medium” space, or an outdoor land plot that measures between 10 to 100 square meters. Three respondents desired a “large” space, or an outdoor land plot with at least 100 square meters in area, for planting.
When the potential participants of the upcoming urban gardening education program already have some experience in farming and gardening, they will be able to easily grasp certain topics and skills that have been recently introduced to them. This manifests one of Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning, the “pre-training principle” (Gelisan & Mangubat, 2020). In this principle, connection to the learners’ prior knowledge or scaffolding, as well as introducing them to key concepts should be done before presenting the instructional materials to them, particularly when the topic that shall be discussed is novel or complex.
As most participants of the needs analysis stated that they are willing to plant an urban garden on a small plot of land, the content of the urban gardening education program shall be focused on cultivating food crops or produce in a small-scale gardening operation, particularly on an outdoor plot no more than 10 square meters in area; the planned program will not discuss the cultivation of ornamental plants, rice, corn, or timber. Additionally, the program shall also provide resources on container gardening. According to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (n.d.), container gardening, which involves the cultivation of plants in containers such as pots or similar vessels, is defined as an alternative gardening practice for individuals who cannot raise a traditional garden on the ground due to poor soil or insufficient space, allowing for a “flexible planting site” and the option of planting other species of plants every season.
Based on the survey, a majority of the participants reported that they wanted to start an urban garden using a small plot of land, which was defined in the survey as an outdoor plot of land whose area measures no more than 10 square meters. A majority of respondents declared that they wanted to establish their own urban garden. Urban gardening is defined as the practice of raising fruits, vegetables, and other plants in urban areas, as opposed to rural areas where agriculture is often associated with (Akers, 2024). Reasons for individuals to start urban gardens in their communities include the promotion of healthy, active lifestyles to boost the overall well-being of communities, expand access to green spaces to marginalized and underserved communities, allow diverse populations to social and establish a sense of belonging, protect the environment by reducing the “urban heat island effect” and improve the quality of the air people breathe, and equalize access to fresh produce in “food deserts”, areas otherwise not served by grocery stores that sell fresh food (Leimbach & Musa, 2023). A variety of techniques are employed in urban gardening to compensate for the lack of fertile agricultural land in densely populated areas, such as hydroponics, which uses mineral-enriched water instead of soil, and rooftop, vertical, or indoor gardens. At a webinar conducted by the Development Academy of the Philippines in 2021, former Philippine Secretary of Agriculture William Dar underscored the importance of promoting urban agriculture in improving food security amid the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he stated that urban areas dependent on produce grown in rural areas must face increasing costs of food in an economy disrupted by the effects of prolonged lockdowns, not only in emerging economies such as the Philippines, but also in developed countries (Merle, 2021).
To gauge the familiarity and interest of the pre-survey participants, a Likert scale was used, with a rating of 1 to denote a lack of familiarity or interest to 5 to denote a “very high” degree of familiarity or interest towards a certain topic or skill related to urban gardening. When it came to the familiarity of respondents with certain topics and skills related to urban gardening, thirteen (14.33%) of respondents said that they were “not familiarity at all” in basic plant biology, with 7 expressing a “slight familiarity”, 5 with a “moderate familiarity”, and the remaining 5 stating that they were either “familiarity” “very familiarity”. Most respondents declared that they were “familiar” with six topics, “not familiar” with seven other topics, and “slightly familiar” with two topics.
A Likert scale was utilized to gauge the participants’ familiarity and interest towards certain skills and topics related to urban gardening. The respondents’ interests with urban gardening-related topics and skills greatly varied from their interest; in fact most respondents declared that they were “interested” in learning these topics and skills. Notably, these participants had the most interest in container gardening, rated with 5. Hence, it is said that the participants may have greater interest in gardening compared to familiarity, while some of those who are familiar with certain skills have less interest. Generally, however, most respondents stated that they had relatively lower familiarity than interest in urban gardening.
Most respondents stated that they were not familiar with topics such as basic plant biology, crop selection (choosing the best crops for the soil, climate, and other factors), and crop rotation, as well as marketing and sales, vertical farming, hydroponics, and “organic concoction and fertilizers”. What these participants said that they were “interested” in, however, include transplanting, organic gardening practices, composting, harvesting and post-harvest handling, and food preservation.
Additionally, these participants said that they were either “interested” or “very interested” in learning most topics, including crop selection, soil preparation, transplanting, crop rotation, watering techniques, pest and disease management, organic gardening practices, composting, harvesting and post-harvest handling, food preservation, marketing and sales, and “organic concoction and fertilizers”. However, they showed the least interest in other topics, such as vertical farming, hydroponics, and vertical farming.