NORTHERN Mindanao agriculture department regional field office (DA - RFO 10) has intensified its urban agriculture program in a bid to ensure food security for soldiers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On August 11, DA regional executive director Carlene C. Collado turned over 100 packets assorted vegetable seeds to 4th Signal Battalion civil-military operations officer Captain Arcel G Sedurifa, in Cagayan de Oro City.
Earlier, Collado explained that urban agriculture, which forms part of the government’s Plant, Plant, Plant Program, “aims to empower city dwellers to grow their food to attain household food security.”
The 36 grams, 5-in-1 pinakbet packet consisting of seeds of eggplant, okra, ampalaya, pole sitao, squash could cover 1,000 square meter area, according to Collado.
Sedurifa said they support the implementation of the DA’s Plant Plant Plant Program also to complement their quarterly tree planting program.
“We thank DA, as our request granted,” said Sedurifa adding that they will plant the seeds inside our camp and we will also distribute them among our force so that their families can also plant in available spaces in their backyards.
The said intervention is part of the DA Secretary William Dar’s Revitalized Urban Agriculture and Gulayan Project to increase the country’s food adequacy level at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. (Ben Balce /IJuntahan/DA-10)
