The Level of Interest and Attitude of the Local Community in Home Gardening during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Assessment

Abstract

Introduction: People are facing uncertain and challenging times in the surge of COVID-19 Pandemic; unemployment rate increases, incomes dramatically decline, and movement restrictions are evident in every household here in the Philippines. Due to income disruption, the underprivileged encounter shortage of their food resources. As such, home gardening becomes a popular initiative of the government and non-government agencies.  Objectives:  The primary aim of this paper is to determine the level of interest and attitude of the residents from the Municipality of Cantilan, Surigao del Sur towards home gardening during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methodology:  The study made use of the descriptive normative design by using a convenience sampling method. The sample selection was based on participants’ willingness to answer the questionnaire which serves as the primary tool in gathering the data. Wherein there are 115 total of respondents participated in the study. The collected data were treated using a simple percentage and weighted mean. Results and Conclusions: The result shows that majority of the respondents were interested in home gardening and believed that it helps their family to eat better and save money during a pandemic. It also indicates that they have time to work in their garden, to be recreational, and conform that they enjoy this activity. It would strengthen their family values and the benefits of home gardening to our environment. However, they are not fully aware of the other benefits of home gardening. Meanwhile, they are unsure if they became successful in home gardening or not.