The Department of Agriculture in the Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) has earmarked PHP8 million to boost urban gardening projects here as part of efforts to attain food sustainability.

“This is part of the DA’s effort to ensure that vegetables will be available to those in the urban areas anytime, which is also a food sustainability initiative of the department,” Emy Lou Cunning of DA-CAR’s National Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Program, said in a media interview on Tuesday.

Urban agriculture involves cultivating vegetables, herbs, spices, root crops, and fruits, as well as raising small livestock within city environments.

Cunning said there are five community gardens and five “Gulayan sa Paaralan” projects in Baguio City that are set to be completed this year.

The five community gardens are being managed by Barangay Loakan Proper, North Sanitary Camp Farmers Association, Ibay Urban Garden Association, Barangay Lopez Jaena, and Barangay Sto. Tomas Central.

Meanwhile, the five schools involved in the project are Magsaysay Elementary School, Alfonso Tabora Elementary School, Crystal Cave Integrated School, Baguio City National high School, and Holy Ghost Extension Elementary School.

“Included in the provision that they will receive are agricultural supplies, community garden technologies and technical assistance,” Cunning said.

In an earlier statement, Marcelina Tabelin, chief agriculturist at the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO), said the initiative aims to strengthen school-based food production, promote sustainable urban gardening practices, and enhance nutrition awareness among students.

Lawyer Jennilyn Dawayan, DA-CAR regional director, in an earlier interview, said they have initiated several programs to encourage food production in all sectors in the community.

“If even small pots and spaces in households will be used to produce even a small quantity of vegetables that families can harvest when needed, it will be an added food produced by the country,” she said. (PNA)