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  • It Starts With a Meal

Good Food Farm Improves Access to Nutrition for Families in Magdalena, Philippines

  • Amanda Whitmyer

on  February 29, 2024

Driven by the vision of a world without hunger, at Rise Against Hunger, we often say It Starts With a Meal™ — but it doesn’t end there. It leads to resilience and self-sufficiency in remote, last-mile communities across the globe. In the Philippines where 45% of the population faces moderate or severe food insecurity, we work alongside in-country partners to address the immediate nutritional needs and empower locally-led solutions to food and nutrition, serving 1.73 million people there each year.

Good Food Farm, a program led by Rise Against Hunger Philippines, works to improve long-term food security and reduce malnutrition in Magdalena, Manila, and other communities throughout the Philippines. Doubling as an agri-tourism resort, this farm combines agriculture and tourism to sustain its operations, but that’s not all. Good Food Farm has created 34 job opportunities that enhance the quality of life and generate a stable source of income for farmers like Baltazar. “In this job, it’s a great help to many families…My family is happy that I have a regular job here.”

Since 2021, Good Food Farm has harvested and distributed thousands of vegetables and fruits for feeding programs operated by Rise Against Hunger Philippines, providing nutritious meals to nearly 3,000 families weekly, significantly improving their overall health and well-being. 

Geoffrey Gacayan, Agriculturist at Good Food Farm

Good Food Farm Agriculturist Geoffrey Gacayan says, “The impact on the livelihood of the farmers is only a financial impact…it’s also how often they’re able to take home fresh produce…that’s a healthy diet for them as well as their families.” He further explains that the farmers harvest several crops to provide the community and nearby school feeding programs that support a nutritionally balanced diet for children and their families. Crops harvested include eggplants, Chinese cabbage, sweet potatoes and string beans.

As this farm has become a reliable source for many people facing hunger, Geoffrey says, “We’re able to impact the lives of people, not only the people we employ, but those who receive our vegetables.” Due to the produce provided to the community and its employees at the farm, Geoffrey is proud to see how the farm has impacted the surrounding communities and seeks to continue to enhance their sustainable agriculture practices.

Watch the video here to learn more about the Good Food Farm and hear from program participants whose lives have improved due to job opportunities and access to nutritious food.

Your gift to Rise Against Hunger paves the way toward brighter futures for families in the Philippines and beyond. You can continue to make this impact possible. We hope you’ll join us by sharing this story series and donating today! 

About the Author

Amanda Whitmyer served as the Digital Marketing Specialist at Rise Against Hunger.

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.