Home gardens add to Baguio’s allure; DA cited

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – This summer capital maybe a bustling metropolis, but indoor and organic gardening in barangays is now contributing to its allure aside from its scenic tourism come-ons.

This was attributed to projects of the regional Dept. of Agriculture by city executives who cited regional DA officials for their support to the agriculture sector in the city which boosted livelihood of constituents..

                Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr., chairman of the city council committee on market, trade, commerce and agriculture, said organic agriculture and urban gardening practitioners in barangays of the city have been receiving enormous technical and financial support from the DA-CAR the past years.

He said recent commitment made by DA-CAR regional director Dr. Cameron Odsey on the agency’s continuing support to the city’s agriculture sector should serve as an inspiration for residents to embrace urban gardening to maximize the utilization of the limited spaces within their homes for the production of fruits and vegetables that will be consumed by their families purposely for the realization of food self-sufficiency.

“We are lucky that the present administration is giving emphasis in supporting the growth of the agriculture sector in urban centers like Baguio city. We need to empower our constituents to embrace urban gardening as part of the way of life in a thickly populated city for us to be able to produce part of our daily food requirements,” Yangot said.

The councilor said recent assistance provided by DA-CAR to hundreds of farmers from barangays in the city was just the start of more technical assistance by the agriculture department to allow organic agriculture to thrive in an urban setting where limited spaces will be transformed into beautiful attractions.

According to him, by being involved in urban gardening and organic agriculture, residents will have a chance to produce their daily food requirements and earn additional income once they will be able to sell their produce to their neighbors or interested buyers from the different markets, thus, the enormous support being infused by concerned government agencies and the local government to organic agriculture for the realization of food self-sufficiency.

Yangot said numerous residents from the city’s barangays have committed to actively participate in the production of fruits and vegetables within their limited spaces for them to be part of the local organic agriculture practitioners to help in providing added attractions in the different barangays by making available vertical gardens worthy of appreciation not only by the residents but also the visitors who frequent the city for them to spend a vacation.

Odsey told local agriculture stakeholders in the city that DA-CAR will include them in technical assistance like in production of organically grown crops in homes of people.