AN emerging breed of urban farmers who cultivate a patch of land in Tondo, Manila was able to harvest 600 kilos of assorted vegetables and earned P19,000 in just two hours during the first Urban Vegetable Garden Harvest Festival last Sunday in Tondo, Manila.
The activity dubbed “Pick, Harvest, and Pay” was the first of many similar activities to be held by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) under its “Buhay sa Gulay” project.
The event was held in partnership with St. John Bosco Parish, Department of Agriculture (DA), and the local government of Manila.
More than 8,000-square-meter idle soccer field, managed by St. John Bosco Parish in Tondo, was converted into an urban vegetable garden, which benefited families and residents of 17 barangays around the parish to lessen the economic and health effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the area.
“If the people work together with government and church, it will surely lead to a successful and productive program that will help communities grow,” DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones said in a news statement after the celebration of the festival.
He said the Buhay sa Gulay Harvest Festival demonstrated the concerted effort of the local and national government agencies in delivering farm produce in the city through the dedication, commitment, and handwork provided by the farmer-scientist from Cavite and the Tondo urban farmers.
“The communities in Tondo can harvest vegetables from this small farm, which the church allowed farmers to use to grow vegetables and sell them directly to consumers. They need not go to the market because the vegetables here are fresh. This will also help people in the communities grow healthy and strong,” he said.
During this time of the pandemic, Castriciones said Filipinos must unite and help each other not only to combat the impact of the pandemic in the county but also to help bring back its citizen to farming activities.
He disclosed that aside from Tondo, other local government units in Metro Manila will soon follow in establishing their own urban vegetable garden, such as Quezon City and Caloocan City.
“Through vegetable farming, urban areas would need not depend on other areas for their supply of fresh vegetables,” he said.
Josefina C. Tandog, a 65-year-old community leader and chairman of Barangay 109, District 1 of Tondo underscored the importance of eating vegetables.
She said that they were able to plant and harvest spinach, pechay, kangkong and mustard in the said vegetable patch with the spinach, mustard, and pechay sold at P30 per kilo, while kangkong at P50 per kilo only.
Image credits: DAR Public Assistance and Media Relations Office