DILIMAN, Quezon City—Amid the global pandemic, more households in Metro Manila and nearby provinces are set to join the move towards a food-sufficient country as the Department of Agriculture (DA) has partnered with four non-government organizations (NGO) in promoting urban agriculture in the Philippines.

MVM Message Movements Media, Inc., Project Pearls, AGREA, and Metro Pacific Investment Foundation are the newest addition to the expanding communities and network of the urban agriculture initiative, under the Department’s “Plant, Plant, Plant” program.

CALOOCAN CITY—To further support the move of community churches to go into urban agriculture, especially in this time of a pandemic, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) participated in the Agri-tek Eskwela Sessions COVEG 2020 “Gulayamanan” of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Caloocan.

Following the launch of a local urban agriculture project, the Institute provided technical assistance during the community church’s urban farming information drive.

As part of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) food safety regulatory system, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) continues to increase awareness and build capacities for the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in the country.

In the Virtual Training-Workshop on GAP for Emerging Agricultural Commodities Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, the Institute furthered the campaign on GAP adoption as means to improve food systems and supply and towards ensuring people’s health and wellbeing.

Edible landscaping basics were featured for viewers on the latest episode of Kalye Mabunga, a web series initiated by Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) in partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI).

In this episode, guest expert Bryan Apacionado, of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), talked about the science and art of edible landscaping, including the components of crop production and functional design. Viewers were given some considerations and steps in edible landscaping as the expert gave a walkthrough on UPLB’s edible landscape garden.

Some former trainees of the Agricultural Training Institute’s Young Filipino Farm Leaders Training Program in Japan (YFFLTPJ) are now part of the Agricultural and Fishery Youthpreneurs Council (AFYC), initiated by the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF).

With their agri-fishery experience in the country and in Japan, the young farmers are expected to contribute in building social enterprises as members of the AFYC.

CALOOCAN CITY—In the continuous move to mainstream the production of urban-grown food, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) recognize the role of the religious sector in transforming lives and have now joined hands with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kalookan for an urban agriculture project.

This undertaking, under DA’s “Plant, Plant, Plant” Program, was sealed with a Memorandum of Agreement and a formal turnover of more than 1,200 starter kits to the families and communities being assisted by the Diocese.