Mayor wants promotion of urban gardening amidst pandemic
GUAGUA --- Mayor Dante Torres is optimistic that the current free time accorded to many by the on-going quarantine restrictions and workfrom-home schemes could be used to promote urban gardening instead of the commercialized decorative and rare plant propagation that impacts on rare plant species.
He said that there should be a gradual shift to urban gardening specifically the production of vegetables and plans for personal food consumption. Torres said that such effort will greatly help in ensuring stable food source for families amid the pandemic and promote healthy l i f est yl e.
“We have been actively distributing seeds and plants to our urban dwellers and rural folk to help in this program.The free time afforded by this pandemic could be used to create a different mindset and promote sustainable home-based farming,” the mayor added.
Torres, through the Municipal Agriculturist of the town and the Department of Agriculture recently distributed vegetable seeds as well as freerange chicken to several households here in a bid to jumpstart the interest on urban gardening.
In fact, the Department of Interior and Local Government issued Memorandum Circular No. 2019-129this August 9, 2019 calling on all mayors and governors to promote organic gardens in their respective areas based on the provisions of the Philippine National Standards for Organic Agriculture.The DILG issued the circular in response to the National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB) Resolution
Support to transport cooperatives
The state-run Bank continues to offer the SPEED-PUVs Program (Support Package for Environment-friendly and Efficiently Driven PUVs Program) which extends affordable financing to transport cooperatives and corporations for the purchase of modern jeepneys.
As of December 2020, LANDBANK has approved P1.2 billion-worth of loans from 25 borrowers for the acquisition of 574 modern units. Another 43 loan applications are in the pipeline amounting to a total loan application of P2.53 billion for the acquisition of 1,126 modern units. This came with the government subsidy which has been increased to P160,000 per vehicle effective last year.
In 2020, LANDBANK also launched the I-RESCUE for BUS Transport Lending Program (Interim REhabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorably-affected Enterprises by Covid-19 for Better Urban Services Transport) to offer a similar credit assistance to bus operators. With an initial fund of P3 billion, the loan facility can finance up to 80% of the acquisition cost of a modern public utility bus, with an affordable fixed interest rate of 5% per annum for the first three (3) years.
No. 14, Series of 2019 asking the DILG, through its Gulayan sa Barangay Program, to establish organicgardens.The NOAB is the front line agency in the implementation of the Republic Act No. 10068, also known asthe Organic Agriculture Act of 2010.
The law was approved and signed on April 6, 2010. According to the said law, organic agriculture includes all agricultural systems that promote the ecologically sound, socially acceptable, economically viable and technically feasible production of food and fibers. It covers soil fertility management, varietal breeding and selection under chemical-free conditions, and the use of biotechnology and other cultural practices that are consistent with the principles and policies of RA 10068. It excludesthe use of modified organisms or GMOs.
According to the NOAB, LGUs have a pivotal role as front liners in the implementation of the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010. LGUs can come up with ordinances and resolutions that would institutionalize local Organic Agriculture Programs as strategies to solve concerns on food security, environment, health and wellness and poverty alleviation. And with about 80 percent of the poor population in rural areas dependent on subsistence agriculture, according to the Department of Agriculture, organic gardens can well address issues on food security.
The DILG and NOAB are looking at the integration of the organic gardens into the pre-existing Gulayan sa Barangay Programs. The Gulayan program is among the hunger mitigation efforts of the government to encourage communities to become self-sufficient by producing their own food. This is also seen as an answer to affordability issues in food production as well as issues of food security, environmental concerns and climate mitigation.