THE Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 is giving away free vegetable seeds to encourage people to grow their own food at their backyard.
“While the enhanced community quarantine is imposed, make your home stay productive and enjoyable through backyard vegetable gardening,” DA 7 Director Salvador Diputado said.
The agency will distribute free seeds like okra, bitter gourd, squash, eggplant, string beans, lettuce, kangkong, bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, cabbage and many more to towns and cities in Cebu.
Diputado said it is high time to promote backyard farming especially during this Covid-19 crisis.
“We need to plant our own food to prepare us if this viral pandemic, God forbid, will continue for months, which will result in food scarcity. Having your own garden now means you will be reaping your own food in the next few months,” he said.
“We are giving early maturing vegetables seeds, ones that can get harvested fast. Also, you will be eating healthy and nutritious food,” Diputado added.
He said gardening is a great family bonding.
“Bonding activity need to be healthy and must be eating the right kind of food as this is the best remedy,” he said.
Interested towns and cities are encouraged to send a letter of request to their Municipal Agriculture Offices. The DA said it needs the letter to equally distribute the available vegetable seeds.
A production guide like urban gardening will also be provided to help and guide the beneficiaries on how to properly plant vegetables.
In the absence of a backyard, the DA said urban gardening or container gardening is an alternative way of planting vegetables in limited areas or space using containers like empty bottles, cans, old basins, among others.
As of now, only the municipalities of Oslob, Medellin, Sta. Fe, Bantayan Island, Danao, Consolacion, Compostela and Liloan had sent letter of request and received free vegetable seeds.
Meanwhile, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved the request of the DA for a P31 billion supplemental budget to fund the “Plant, Plant, Plant Program” or Agri 4Ps to increase the country’s food adequacy level during the emergency situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. (JOB)