186 hectares tilled by 3,000 farmers in city

The City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO) claimed that there are some one hundred eighty-six hectares of agricultural lands situated in various parts of the city.

CVAO head Dr. Silandro Bested said that on the other hand, there are more than 3,000 farmers in the various barangays in the city which were able to be documented under the agriculture department’s Registry of Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBA).

Earlier, the local legislative body passed a resolution that declared 16 out of the city’s 128 barangays as agricultural areas considering the presence of agricultural lands being tilled by farmers.

Bested said that urban gardening flourished in the city at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when many residents started maximizing the use of available spaces in their residences to produce part of their food supply.

He claimed that even with the ongoing easing up of community quarantine restrictions, many residents are still actively involved in urban gardening where their excess produce are sold to their neighbors or in their barangays.

According to him, the CVAO is also giving out free vegetable seeds to residents who are interested to practice urban gardening, thus, interested individuals need to visit their office located at the Slaughterhouse Compound to get the free seeds.

Aside from selling their produce to the nearest markets, he noted that some farmers also ventured on online selling to aggressively market their produce and earn income from their agriculture-based activities which not only help in sustaining food self-sufficiency but also in improving the state of the environment in their communities.

The CVAO head underscored that urban gardening thrives in the city because of the interest of the residents to participate in the production of assorted vegetables for food self-sufficiency within their communities.

Bested rallied residents who are actively involved in urban gardening to sustain their involvement to such an important activity for them to help in producing adequate supply of assorted vegetables for their respective communities and help in the efforts to preserve and protect the environment.

He revealed that the local government’s request to the agriculture department to fund the construction of 5 farm-to-market roads (FMRs) in the city had been partially granted with three FMR projects provided with funds under this year’s annual budget of the national government, particularly located in Asin, Sto. Tomas and some agriculture-based barangays situated in the outer portion of the city.

Apart from the production of vegetables, some farmers were also engaged in the production of fresh water fishes within their backyards and production areas situated in the available spaces in their respective barangays. – Dexter A. See