BAGUIO CITY – Barangay Nutrition Scholars and barangay volunteers took part in the two-day backyard organic vegetable production training last Dec. 15 to 16 at the Hotel Veniz.
The training aims to develop, train and strengthen the knowledge and skills of backyard farmers in promoting the use of sustainable and appropriate backyard vegetable production, to accelerate promotion and utilization of backyard vegetable production technologies for the production of fresh, clean and safe products that will meet the requirements of households, to train vegetable farmers as entrepreneurs to operate and manage backyard home gardens, to establish community backyard vegetable gardens and sustain them through the effort of the barangay officials, barangay volunteers and beneficiaries of the barangay, and to enhance the household gardens and community backyard vegetable gardens and to sustain the food always in the home.
The participants realized the nutritional values of vegetables, urban gardening and organic plant production such as pest management, production management and organic fertilizer.
Accordingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that adequate consumption of vegetables reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, stomach cancer and colorectal cancer. While an increase the body to fight invading micro-organisms attributable to these diseases, the source of food is still a matter to reckon with as well as its safety.
Agriculturist Alberto Tomas stressed that the rampant use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicide including kind of soil and safety of water used contributes to the risk of one consuming food.
Tomas said, “the best way to ensure consumption of organic vegetables is still to plant them as in backyard gardens.”
“The millennium development goal addresses the reduction and/or elimination of extreme poverty and hunger. Thus program proponents to address this include home community and school food production, food supplementation, livelihood training and financial assistance,” he added.
After the said training, barangays with sufficient area for planting will be monitored by the city committee on food production.
If this will be sustained, it will become an economic enterprise for livelihood as well as it will improve the nutritional status of the barangay./Jho Arranz
