BRGY. BAAN KM 3, Butuan City – In support to the Department of Agriculture’s “Ahon Lahat , Pagkain Sapat Kontra sa Covid-19” or the Plant Plant Plant Program, the Agricultural Training Institute – Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) XIII encouraged urban communities to produce their own food through the Urban Agriculture Program.

ATI-RTC XIII launched the project Urban Household Garden: Food Always in the Home (FAITH) on June 30, 2020 participated by three representatives out of the 20 households who registered as beneficiaries from Eastwood Subdivision.

The project aims to ensure continued food production in urban areas and attain food security and accessibility to recipients.

Recipients were expected to nurture fast-growing vegetables; sustain the availability of safe, fresh, and nutritious vegetables in their home; and record and submit documentation of their activities and learnings during their gardening experience.

They were also required to take the Basic Urban Gardening e-Learning course of ATI. Each of them received a starter kit composed of vermicompost, garden soil, pots, hand trowel, hand sprayer, working gloves, steel rack, record book, and seedlings of vegetables (pechay, tomato, sweet pepper, lettuce, upland kangkong).

Participants were also briefed on basic gardening concepts by Acting Asst. Center Director Heracleo A. Paler during the launching. A hands-on demo of mixing soil and transplanting were also conducted. Moreover, Information Education and Communication materials were given as guides on vegetable production.

“On behalf of the beneficiaries, we are very thankful to receive this project. I am a science teacher and this will surely help me understand more about plants which we could relate in teaching our students especially that I would be able to personally experience growing them,” said Ms. Cherry O. Tadique, one of the recipients.