DA training arm pushes urban agri-business in Central Visayas

By Mary Judaline Partlow18 September 2019 Philippines

VEGGIES ON WHEELS. Honorio Cervantes, shows a photo of a "kariton" or wooden push cart planted with kangkong during his talk on square foot gardening in the "Agri-Talk" led by the Agricultural Training Institute-Region 7. The event was the first ever region-based forum in the entire country with Dumaguete chosen as its first venue held at a mall here on Wednesday (Sept. 18, 2019). (PNA photo by Judy Flores Partlow)VEGGIES ON WHEELS. Honorio Cervantes, shows a photo of a "kariton" or wooden push cart planted with kangkong during his talk on square foot gardening in the "Agri-Talk" led by the Agricultural Training Institute-Region 7. The event was the first ever region-based forum in the entire country with Dumaguete chosen as its first venue held at a mall here on Wednesday (Sept. 18, 2019). (PNA photo by Judy Flores Partlow)DUMAGUETE CITY – Some 200 farmers and local officials attended on Wednesday a seminar on urban agriculture of the Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) in Region 7 (Central Visayas) at a mall here. ATI is the training arm of the Department of Agriculture.

In an interview, Doris Isabel Racho, ATI-7 public information officer, said the Agri-Talk is in line with a national government program and is the first to be held in Central Visayas with Dumaguete City being chosen as the first venue in the region.

The Agri-Talk was initially conducted by the national government with ATI-7 being the first in the country to conduct it at the regional level, said Racho, who is also its project officer.

The three topics in Agri-Talk included square foot gardening, urban gardening, and mushroom production, which are the “most requested” during seminars and training, she said.

The activity aims to not only target farmers but also those interested in agri-business, given the options to start their own even in urban areas, where land is scarce.

“Urban gardening is fast becoming a trend now and as we know it is just mostly the rural areas that produce our food and for urban areas, there is some kind of difficulty to do that,” Racho said.

Admission to the event was free, as well as other modalities and training programs for ATI to reach out to those who are interested in engaging in agri-business, she added.

Honorio Cervantes, a renowned speaker on square foot gardening, told participants that it does not take huge parcels of land for one to start a vegetable garden.

Speaking of his experience after retirement from the Philippine Constabulary, the 69-year-old Cervantes said he started out with just 200 square meters of land that he planted with a variety of vegetables.

He talked of different methods in planting vegetables and shared about how he has taught people living off the streets to have a “mobile veggies garden”, using a “kariton” or wooden pushcart planted with, for example, “kangkong”, that the owner can take along with him.

After his presentation, Cervantes told reporters that he has been to many seminars and training on agriculture and agri-business, and this is his advocacy to be able to share to people how one can enjoy having fresh, organically-grown vegetables from the garden.

The logic behind square foot gardening is “saving space, saving efforts, and saving water,” he said.

Just a 4 feet x 4 feet space box is enough for those living in the urban areas to jumpstart their own vegetable garden, he said.

In 19 days, a person can earn PHP350 from "kangkong" or water spinach planted in a 4 x 4 box, Cervantes said.

“I am sincerely reaching out to people in the urban areas to start engaging in urban/container gardening because they will benefit from this in the long run,” he added.

Cervantes’ learning site is in Pagatpat, Cagayan de Oro City with an annex site in Camiguin.

He clarified that he took the idea of square foot gardening from an engineer in the United States and experimented on it and made some revisions for crops production.

Cervantes, a Ten Outstanding Farmers awardee and recipient of other awards, said he has been touring around the Philippines to accommodate requests for talks and training.

After the AgriTalk, the ATI-7 distributed free lettuce, okra, and pechay seeds to participants as they encouraged them to start their own small veggie garden.

Present during the activity were city agriculture officers from Dumaguete, Canlaon, and Bayawan, among others, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries from the Poblacion, barangay officials, among others.

Supporting the ATI-7 in the endeavor are the Philippine Information Agency, Provincial Agriculture Office, Dumaguete City Agriculture Office, and the Robinsons Place mall which provided the venue for the seminar. 

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