Friday, April 04, 2008 Officials push gardening on public lots, backyards
BEING in a city is not a reason for one not to plant vegetables in their backyard, said Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes who encouraged all barangays to engage in backyard gardening using biodegradable compost.
Cortes said it’s like shooting two birds- managing solid waste and helping in the food production.
This was the mayor’s reaction to President Arroyo’s recent pronouncement asking the Department of Agriculture to formulate programs that will allow local government units (LGUs) to plant palay on their government-owned lots then sell the rice to National Food Authority (NFA).
Though he admitted that the city has no space and irrigation system to plant palay, they can plant vegetable on used tires, empty drums and cans using compost materials.
He cited Barangay Canduman as an example.
Canduman Barangay Captain Leo Jabas rented a vacant lot where biodegradable solid waste materials are converted to a compost heap.
Biodegradable solid waste materials are brought to the site and are made to rot in a compost pile or heap.
The produced heap, or decomposed material, is then used as fertilizer for backyard gardening.
As residents cannot afford to plant palay, Cortes plans to introduce easy to grow vegetables.
Cortes said he plans to replicate the practice in all of the city’s 27 barangays as he ordered shredding machines for each barangays.
Management
Shredding machines reduce solid biodegradable wastes into small chips or shreds so it get decomposed easily.
He said the practice addresses the need for food production and solid waste management.
Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Board (PB) Member Wilfredo Caminero commended the effort of the National Government to solve the rice crisis in the country with a plan to use government-owned lots as areas for palay production.
Caminero, head of the committee on agriculture and livelihood, said that the plan is “very encouraging.”
“We need massive production of rice and corn,” Caminero told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
He included corn because Cebu is more inclined to produce corn.
If the proposal will be realized, there will be rice and corn that can be harvested in a matter of four months.
Caminero identified school sites, especially in the mountain barangays, as a good site to plant rice and corn. (JGA/OCP)
