Originally Published: September 7, 2022 / Manila Bulletin

The East-West Seed Foundation (EWSF), which turned 10 in 2022, is the corporate social responsibility arm of East-West Seed. “East-West Seed works for better seeds, for better yield for farmers. We are working for food security and proper nutrition for every Filipino,” said East-West Seed Foundation managing director Ma. Elena “Bing” van Tooren.

Started in 2012, EWSF conducts training on vegetable production to beneficiaries in partnership with schools and organizations. First called Oh My Gulay Tanim sa Kinabukasan (OMG PSK), the program was renamed Veggie Eskwela. The organization has two Facebook Pages, EWSF, that posts tips on vegetable production, and OMG, which provides nutrition facts and fun trivia to encourage vegetable consumption.

“Our theory of change is that the development of home school and community vegetable gardens leads to awareness, availability, accessibility and affordability of nutritious food, so that this in turn will lead to increased family consumption and nutrition,” van Tooren said.

In 2020, the pandemic hastened Veggie Eskwela’s plans to go online. As of 2021, EWSF has worked with “about 27,000 student beneficiaries, 2800 teachers in 242 partner barangays in 1323 partner schools… over half of [which]… happened in 2021 because of our online training model.”

The Foundation partners with civic organizations and government agencies who share their advocacy, including a Gulayan sa Paaralan project with the Department of Education (DepEd) that encourages the establishment of school gardens. “The nice thing about DepEd is they have 47,000 schools in 42,000 barangays. So every barangay has a school. Some have two. Imagine if they inspired their community to grow vegetables?” van Tooren said. “That is an automatic model garden if the school has a good garden. That’s why we’re going to the schools. We will support them as much as we can.”