SISON, Pangasinan – DepEd’s Bantay Insik Integrated School (BIIS) held its first Harvest Festival Farm Demonstration last September 29, 2017 in Brgy. Bantay Insik, Sison, Pangasinan. Through the strong support and involvement of the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center I (ATI-RTC I), the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sison, the East West Seeds Company, and the Rocapor’s Farm, the event was brought to fruition.
With the theme, “Gulayan sa Paaralan para sa Kinabukasan”, the activity aimed to strengthen the advocacy of practicing good gardening in schools, and to emphasize the importance of vegetable gardening not just in schools but in backyards of students’ homes.
More than 200 participants attended the said activity. Most of them were members of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the BIIS, and others were from a number of cooperating agencies. During the event, the agencies assured they would give their full support to BIIS’s endeavor to become an agricultural learning site.
Mayor Danilo Uy of Sison, Pangasinan, pledged to allocate fund for the training/learning center of BIIS. His plan was to establish a learning site that will cater to the school’s agricrops subjects for senior students. Hand in hand, ATI-RTC I and LGU-Sison will pool their resources and technical expertise to facilitate this plan. “I will allocate 1-million fund for the school’s training center, sapagkat ayoko nang magastusan pa ang mga magulang ng mga estudyante natin,” Mayor Uy announced.
One of the highlights of the festival was the farm tour, which showcased the different crops grown in the BIIS garden. The school garden crops consisted of tomato, eggplant, bottle gourd, red okra, lettuce, corn, string beans pepper and squash. Another interesting feature of the event was the “pick and pay” scheme of marketing the products. Participants were allowed to harvest fruits and vegetables and pay at prevailing market price.
On behalf of the ATI-RTC I Center Director Rogelio Evangelista, Mr. Bienvenido Masbang, Chief of the Partnership Accreditation Services Section, emphasized that the ATI-RTC I is always there to support the Bantay Insik Integrated School in its effort and initiative to develop its school into a learning site.