In partnership with the Local Government Units particularly the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist, the Agricultural Training Institute through its Regional Training Center in the Cordillera Administrative Region completed its 15 batches of “Capability Building in Support to Community Garden Establishment on Urban Agriculture with the provision of starter kits” with a total of Three Hundred Ninety-Three (393) participant-recipients covering various parts of Baguio City and Tabuk City from July to September 2023.
The training is a one-day activity focusing on urban agriculture. Topics discussed include the benefits of Urban Agriculture, container gardening, square-foot gardening, making your own compost fertilizer, organic concoctions, insecticidal, and fungicidal plants. With the rapid urbanization rate where there is not much space or land to grow crops, container gardening is a viable alternative. It is a simple, and practical way of growing fruit, herbs, spices, and vegetable cultivation. In addition, container gardening is a fantastic way to grow vegetables, especially when you lack yard space, and helps control pests and overcome soil issues, enabling the availability of home-grown fresh produce without a yard.
The training is in consonant with the Administrative Order No. 03, series of 2022, “creation of the National Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Program (NUPAP), a banner program of the Department of Agriculture (DA)”, it is a policy direction of the DA to increase food production and lessen the logistics cost in order to soften the impact of global concerns like food security, climate change and the rising costs of fuel and other inputs. It aims to promote urban and peri-urban agriculture and other emerging agriculture practices through the Plant, Plant, Plant Program.
The training is also in support of the National Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Program, ATI conducts a series of webinars and face-to-face on Urban Agriculture to be able to produce food in limited spaces, provide alternative sources of livelihood, and aid in solid waste management.
The other 15 batches were conducted last semester 1, 2023 with a total of 328 graduates.
