CANITOAN, CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY. – “What you learned, put it in your heart and mind, and take it out in your hands. DO IT AND SHARE IT.” This is what OIC-Center Director of ATI-RTC X Maria Lydia A. Echavez urged the students to do, during the joint graduation ceremony of the program on Glamourizing Farming Through Organic Urban Agriculture. The graduation ceremony was held at Canitoan National High School, Canitoan Cagayan de Oro City.

The 27 students from Camaman-an NHS and 40 students and teachers from Canitoan NHS learned organic urban gardening that started on August 14, 2018 and ended with a graduation ceremony on December 7, 2018. Plots and container gardens were established in their respective schools as part of their hands-on activities.

Cagayan de Oro City is one of the ten cities in the country that benefited from the program on glamourizing Farming through Urban Agriculture under the 4-H Club Youth Development Program. This program envisions the urban youths to engage in urban agriculture by establishing urban garden in the school and in their homes, and instill 4-H thrusts by organizing 4-H Clubs in their own localities.

The four-month program included all aspects of gardening: from composting and land preparation to harvesting of crops and marketing. Appropriate training programs were conducted separately in the two schools, in partnership with the City Agriculture Office of Cagayan de Oro, where experts in the field came from. The students were provided with garden tools and seeds which they used not only in the school but also in their respective home gardens.

As part of their learning journey, the students and teachers visited three of the learning sites assisted by ATI-RTC X. They learned lettuce production, and the importance of sacrifice and self restraint as among the factors of success of Alomah’s Nature Farm. Creating a concept and integration of art in gardening are also some of the significant points that Jaya’s Secret Garden imparted to the participants. While Cervantes Square Foot Garden emphasized among others, the income of kangkong plant in a one square foot area in his garden.