Baguio City residents are receiving vegetable seeds and seedlings to help them set up home-based urban gardens during the community quarantine to stop the spread of coronavirus disease.
The Department of Agriculture distributed the free vegetable seeds, seedlings, and planting materials in line with its nationwide urban agriculture and gardening program aims to attain food security and to help provide and supplement people’s food and nutritional needs during the lockdown.
Baguio City Veterinarian Dr. Brigit Piok said that the distributed seeds and seedlings such as spinach, green shinkang pechay, lettuce, cucumber, beans, bell pepper, okra, and kangkong can provide nutritious food and can be a livelihood option for the residents who were affected by the Luzon-wide ECQ.
DA-CAR reported on May 8, 2020, that they have distributed over 20,000 various vegetable seedlings potted in recycled paper to Barangays Magsaysay, Sto Niño, Slaughter Compound, and P. Burgos.
The vegetable seedlings potted in recycled paper make it easier for the beneficiaries to transplant because all they have to do is remove the pots’ bottoms so as not to disrupt the developing root system of the seedlings, said Baguio City Agricultural Production Coordinating Officer Dr. Ofelia Pacio Ducayag.
Dr. Brigit Piok also encourages the beneficiaries to use their biodegradable kitchen food waste as their fertilizers.
In addition, the Bureau of Plant Industry-Baguio National Crop Research, Development and Production Support Center gave away packets of varied vegetable seeds accompanied with starter bags of Urea and Bioganic fertilizer.
The Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-RFO-CAR) and the Baguio City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (BCVAO) are continuously distributing repacked vegetable seeds to barangays residents who are interested in urban gardening.
Gardens have been a reliable source of healthy food for parishioners of Fr. Rex Ramos of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Ombao Polpog, Bula, Camarines Sur. Fr. Rex constructed a Vegetable Arc Garden in a vacant space beside the parish before the COVID-19 outbreak. The harvests have since been given out to those who could not afford to buy vegetables.
UE Caloocan has also joined the campaign to promote urban farming and gardening as a household food source.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to the people of Baguio for embracing home-based gardening as a food source.
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