Philippines: Department of Agrarian Reform launches urban gardening project in Tondo slums
“I am hopeful that other cities, communities and urban centers in Metro Manila would emulate this project.”
By Jonathan L. Mayuga
Business Mirror
November 23, 2020
Excerpt:
Buhay sa Gulay will utilize the parish’s 8,000-square-meter football field for vegetable farming that would benefit the families and residents in 17 barangays.
“This land is currently idle and we would use this to teach our urban dwellers how to farm so that they could produce their own food and also sell some of their yields to earn money,” the DAR chief said in a news statement.
Castriciones further said that the DAR’s mandate is to distribute lands to landless farmers in the countryside and provide them with various support services, including training, to help them boost their farms. These farmers in rural communities would now share their learnings with the urban dwellers.
DAR-Calabarzon Regional Director Rene Colocar explained that five farmer-scientists, who are also agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of the DAR in the province of Cavite, will teach the benefiting barangays the technical know-how on cultivating the lands.
“Apart from the training, the seedlings, fertilizers, vermicast, and other farming materials will be provided by the provincial office of DAR in Cavite, while the machinery we use are borrowed from the Department of Agriculture,” Colocar said.
