Baguio residents receive seeds, chickens for urban agri project

May 3, 2020 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Agriculture – Cordillera with the City Government of Baguio started to distribute chickens and vegetable seeds to identified barangays folks here to support those affected by the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine due t to the COVID-19 pandemic.
DA-CAR officials led by Regional Technical Director for Research and Regulations Atty. Jennilyn Dawayan and Baguio City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (BCVAO) personnel headed by Dr. Brigette Piok turned over layer chickens and various vegetable seeds to hundreds of residents of Barangay Atok Trail recently to launch the Urban Agriculture program in the city.
Dawayan said the Urban Gardening Program is under the “Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat (ALPAS) Kontra sa COVID-19” popularly called “Plant, Plant, Plant.” The ALPAS is an initiative to increase farm productivity and ensure food sufficiency during the COVID19 emergency situation.
The “Plant, Plant, Plant” program also includes expansion of farm areas, rice resiliency project, palay procurement fund for the National Food Authority expanded Survival and Recovery (SURE) program, social amelioration for farmers and farm workers, integrated livestock and corn resiliency project, revitalized gulayan project and urban agriculture, coconut-based diversification project, and fishery resiliency project.
Dawayan said the DA partnered with the city government to let the people in the barangays of Baguio, despite an urban area, grow their own vegetables which they could harvest and eat during COVID period or not. She said they distributed vegetable seeds to residents who are interested to plant and promote vegetable gardening in public areas, idle private spaces, and residential backyards.
Complementing the seed distribution is the egg production project. More than 50 residents in the barangay also received at least 12 chickens each composed of five roosters and seven hens, along with a sack of feeds and water-soluble multivitamins for the chickens.
The beneficiaries were validated by DA-CAR and the BCVAO to ensure that the recipients of the chickens have enough space for them to roam and for egg production also. They should be enlisted in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) database.
Other barangays who were provided with chickens include Kias, Pucsusan, Minesview, Pacdal, Loakan Proper, Loakan Apugan, Loakan Liwanag and Baguio Country Club Village.
DA also turned over supplementing inputs like Trichoderma or beneficial microorganisms that enhance plant growth, effective microorganism which could serve as foliar fertilizer/decomposer/soil conditioner.
The recipients were also given lecture on the proper way of planting and growing their vegetables and also on taking care of the chicken to ensure the survival of those that were turned over to them.
“To our beneficiaries, please do take care and nurture those that you received from the government to support the survival during the times of crisis such as this COVID-19,” Dawayan said.
Meanwhile, Piok appealed to the recipients of the chickens to ensure that these would be maintained and propagated and not to be used as food during the COVID-19 crisis.
Those interested of the vegetable seeds can visit the DA-CAR Regional Office along Guisad Road and the BCVAO at the Slaughter Compound, Santo Nino barangay.
JDP/RMC- PIA CAR