In August 2012 torrential rains known informally as Typhoon Habagat caused serious flooding around Laguna Bay. One way by which Goducate helped rehabilitate some of the affected families in Tagumpay was through training the men in agricultural skills. 5 of the men subsequently set up a community farm on a 3000 sq m piece of land that a former mayor of Bay offered to Goducate. By April 2013, the men were starting to harvest vegetables not only for their own families to consume, but also for sale.
However, in August 2013, the place was flooded again by monsoon rains and remained so until Dec 2013. Fortunately an agricultural technique that the men had learnt was hydroponics. One of the men turned to this form of gardening, growing vegetables hydroponically in somebody else’s backyard and in a small piece of land rented for Goducate staff housing.
Selling his vegetables at the wet market is now is main source of living. He and his wife are at the market nearly every day by 4 am with their produce. When they do not have enough of their own vegetables, they buy stock from the Goducate Model Farm or from other small farmers.
