PIA Press Release
Saturday, January 28, 2012 DA, DepEd urge schools to establish vegetable gardensTUGUEGARAO CITY, Jan 28 (PIA) –- The Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Education (DepEd) region 2 have targeted the more than 2,000 public schools regionwide in their orientation activities for the establishment of “gulayan sa paaralan” program this year.Prisca Baquiran, agriculture information officer, said the two agencies have started implementing the program early last year wherein they have already reached out 1, 191 schools for the orientation and establishment of school vegetable gardens. Baquiran said the program aims to assist schools in establishing their own vegetable gardens primarily to augment the supplemental feeding program and achieve nutritious foods for the students. Edith Ubina, nutritionist of DepEd, further stated that they constantly monitor the established gardens to ensure sustainability and to see to it that they serve their purpose. Ubina explained that during orientation, they are telling the teachers that the harvests from the garden should be utilized for feeding program or to be distributed to the students to augment their daily meals. “This program of the government aimed to combat malnutrition among school children that is why we keep on explaining to school administrators that the harvests from the gardens should benefit the school children,” Ubina said. On the other hand, the two agencies are again roaming around the region to conduct orientation to schools, provide the necessary equipments and teach technologies to make the vegetable gardens productive and sustainable. The project also aims to teach school administrators to gather and preserve seeds out of the planted vegetables for the next planting season. (TCB/OTB/PIA-2) | 
