City’s vegie seed distribution program continues

The City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO) under Dr. Silardo Bested continues to distribute vegetable seeds to the Summer Capital’s barangays aimed at ensuring food security and production at the household level.

CVAO agriculturist II Marcelina Tabelin said the program started in 2020 as one of the city government’s response to the ongoing Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture (DA).

She said that during the start of the program, funding for the purchase of vegetable seeds was provided by the DA and CVAO through the Covid-19 fund of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).

At present, Tabelin said, the distribution activity’s funding  has been integrated in the CVAO budget as an annual activity aimed not only as a Covid response but to ensure food security and production at the household level.

In celebration of July as Nutrition Month, barangay nutrition scholars (BNS) of the city’s barangays have been requested to get the seeds at CVAO for distribution to interested residents in their respective areas for backyard or container gardening purposes.

Tabelin stressed that the seeds are not for commercial farmers but for households with backyards or those intending to plant the seeds using containers if they lack the space.

She said thousands of seeds have been given out for free since 2020 and are mostly those of pechay, lettuce, upland kangkong, snap beans, and others.

Those interested can visit CVAO at Slaughterhouse Compound, Sto. Nino barangay, or call tel. no. 443-5332, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. – Gaby B. Keith