PAYATAS, Quezon City—Officials from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) are calling for communities and households to practice urban agriculture for easy access to nutritious food and to foster the involvement of their children through family farming.

“Urban agriculture also aims to teach nutrition among children and involve them in the practice of family farming especially now that there are no classes in schools,” ATI-Partnerships and Accreditation Division chief Renato Dela Cruz said.

Dela Cruz underscored this during the Urban Agriculture Project Launch in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City on July 9. Selected barangay representatives, including senior citizens and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan, were part of this event.

“It is important to teach the basic principles of gardening at home to minimize children’s long hours of exposure on electronic devices,” Dela Cruz added.

ATI’s Senior Agriculturist Nemielynn Pangilinan also challenged the barangay to go into seed production and transform their community garden into a marketplace of nutritious food products.

Barangay officials present in the event also received urban agriculture starter kits and took part in a ceremonial planting activity in the barangay’s community garden.

Barangay Chairperson Manuel Guarin assured ATI that this project will be sustained in their area. He said that through the continuous technical assistance being offered by the Institute, their barangay will have more productive urban gardens.

Payatas is among the five barangays represented during the ceremonial signing of Memorandum of Agreement for the Urban Agriculture Project in Quezon City last May 7 in the ATI Central Office.

The urban agriculture project is an initiative under the Department of Agriculture’s “Plant, Plant, Plant” Program or the Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat (ALPAS) Kontra COVID-19 Program.