Central Visayas – COVID19 has brought so much adversity - not just lives and economy but livelihood as well. Threat in food supply is foreseen as community quarantines and blockages in transport routes (especially that Region VII is composed of island provinces) restrict people’s access to sufficient, diverse and nutritious sources of food unless measures are taken fast.

Seeing this and with the declaration of the enhanced community quarantine per province, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) – Regional Training Center VII promotes the services of the Farmers Information Technology Services (FITS) centers in the region. FITS centers serve as a one-stop shop that provides fast access to agricultural information and farming technologies.

In region 7 there are a total of 85 active FITS centers usually located where the City/Municipal and Provincial Agriculture Office (CAO/MAO/PAO) are.

Every FITS center was provided by ATI with necessary Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment, as well as vegetables, crops and livestock technology production guides to give farmers and agriculture enthusiasts’ easy access to information and technologies in farming.

In response to the COVID19 crisis, these FITS Centers and MAOs/CAOs also provided seeds/seedlings to clients so food will be available at their homes and somehow help combat possible threat of hunger and be productive while on community quarantine.

As this developed, the City Government of Tagbilaran in collaboration with ATI-7 and Bohol Agriculture Promotion Center under the Department of Agriculture-7 distributed assorted vegetable seeds and information materials to the women’s organization in the 15 barangays of the city. The partnership aims to promote urban gardening to mitigate the damaging effects of the COVID19 outbreak.