ATI Director Alfredo Aton (in blue) and ATI Officer-in-Charge Deputy Director Rosana Mula lead the distribution of starter kits to the partner senior citizen groups. (photo by Daniel Nilo)
DILIMAN, Quezon City—Some senior citizens in Caloocan City are now partners of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in establishing more green gardens after receiving their starter kits through the ATIng Gulayan ng DA: Vegetable Garden in the City.
This urban agriculture initiative, under the DA’s “Plant, Plant, Plant, Program, is facilitated by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) to encourage city dwellers to take part in ensuring food-secure communities by creating their own vegetable gardens at home.
Fifty starter kits were distributed each to the partner senior citizen groups. Particularly, these were the Senior Citizen Partylist-Caloocan Chapter, represented by Tobias Dimalaluan, and Kamay mo–Kamay ko, Tulong tayo Organization, represented by Simeon Samin, Jr.
The starter kits were composed of seeds, compost, garden soil, polybags, seedling tray, and agri-related information materials. The distribution was led by ATI Director Alfredo Aton and ATI Officer-in-Charge Deputy Director Rosana Mula on May 5 in the ATI Central Office.
Other urban agriculture projects were also launched in Quezon City Hall and Camp Aguinaldo last April 26 and 28, respectively.