BAGUIO HOUSEHOLDS CULTIVATE FOOD SECURITY THROUGH URBAN GARDENING

August 31, 2024 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY

More than 3,000 households in various barangays of Baguio City are ramping up the city government’s urban
agriculture campaign through rooftop and vertical methods of gardening as well as container planters. These households were monitored by the Urban Agriculture Division of the Baguio City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO) adopting the city government’s urban gardening programs in an effort to stabilize local food security and self-sufficiency despite limited land spaces.

CVAO Supervising Agriculturist Marcelina Tabelin said most of the households with urban gardens are located in barangays Pinget, Fort Del Pilar, Irisan, Lopez Jaena, Ambiong, Loakan Proper, Middle Rock Quarry, North
Sanitary Camp, Upper Quezon Hill, Loakan Liwanag, Quezon Hill Proper, Pinsao Proper, Lucnab, Sto. Tomas Central, and Lower Magsaysay. Urban farm produce are mostly vegetables that can grow in limited soil or through
hydroponics systems from lettuce, cabbages, kangkong, eggplant, okra, pechay and spinach among others.

Tabelin said most of these were seedlings freely distributed by the CVAO to interested planters which are now being
regrown. Aside from household gardens, CVAO Department Head Dr. Silardo Bested said they partnered with the
Department of Education in institutionalizing the ‘Gulayan sa Paaralan’ program in school’s curriculum which includes 8 modules of urban agricultural technology education and the establishment of vertical gardens and school-based seedling nurseries.

As of February 2024, a total of 60 public schools out of 69 have established their Gulayan sa Paaralan wherein 24 are
container and rooftop gardens, three of which are hydroponics technology and the rest are open field gardens. On the other hand, of the 128 Barangays, 31 Gulayan sa Barangays were randomly monitored wherein 23 of them have established community gardens while 8 barangays have no space for gardening.

The CVAO has been providing urban agriculture assistance through trainings; provision of various agricultural inputs such as planting materials (seeds and seedlings), compost, potting media, fertilizers, UV-treated plastic sheets, and seedling trays, garden nets, hand tools, and garden hose, among others. Assistance is also being
provided for school-based and community-based seedling nursery greenhouses.

JM Samidan/Baguio-PIO