To enable city dwellers to produce food for their own consumption, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has established another site where they can learn to grow vegetables in small spaces.
An Urban Agriculture-Pagkain Para sa Masa (UA-PPSM) site was put up at the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Compound in Quezon City.
Themed “Sa maliit na espasyo, may pagkain tayo,” the DA said the UA-PPSM seeks to teach city residents how to grow vegetables and other foodstuff by introducing the values of basic food production, healthy food systems and clean urban environment.
“The DA is exerting efforts to lessen hunger in the urban community. The project is in line with the President’s directive to make food available and affordable,” DA Undersecretary for Special Concerns Ranibai Dilangalen said in a statement.
Dilangalen added the project also seeks to wipe out hunger by 2030.
The UA-PPSM is composed of four major components: (1) urban farming, which includes technical assistance for the residents in the area and turned over of initial inputs, such as facilities and equipment for new sites; (2) mushroom culture; (3) feeding program with the children beneficiaries in Barangay Vasra; and (4) turnover of hydroponics-aquaponics technology farming system from Aboitiz Foundation Inc. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.
A memorandum of agreement designating the ATI Compound as area for communal vegetable garden was signed by Dilangalen, ATI OIC Director Luz A. Taposok, Aboitiz Foundation Inc. FVP and COO Maribeth Marasigan, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. Vice President for External Corporate Relations Christopher Camba.
The UA-PPSM was first launched on May 31, 2017, at the Barangay Bahay Toro in Quezon City. Following the kickoff, the DA has established communal gardens at Bago Aplaya, Davao, on August 25 and Sitio Pagalungan, Lugay-Lugay, Cotabato City, on February 5.
The DA is set to establish UA-PPSM in Taguig City on April 12.