FOOD SECURITY. The Urban Community MicroFarm Project expands with several government and non-government partners. The initiative started with the "Gulayan sa Kabalayan", a project of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines' Center for Human Development, as a Covid-19 pandemic initiative in 2020 that would encourage residents in Cagayan de Oro City to do urban farming. (Screengrab)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A multi-sectoral agreement was forged on Tuesday to pave the way for the development of urban agriculture production by establishing urban community school micro-farms.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed via Zoom and is aimed at training communities on the benefits of vegetable production and processing, agro-enterprise development, and financial literacy in the communities in barangays Pagatpat and Tablon.
Signatories to the MOU were representatives of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP), Kids Who Farm (KWF), JCI Kagayhaan Gold (KG), and the barangay chairpersons of Pagatpat and Tablon.
Angelie Collera, head of USTP's Center for Human Development, said the project stemmed from the "Gulayan sa Kabalayan" that she co-founded, an initiative that started last year at the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
"It started out as (a) way to help those affected during quarantine and encourage them to do urban farming by giving them seeds to grow," she said.
With the coming of partners, such as KWF and JCI, the project expanded to become a full-blown extension project that would capacitate partner communities.
Under the MOU, the USTP, KWF, and JCI KG will take the lead in the oversight and facilitation to ensure the continuity of processes and inclusivity in terms of reaching out to project partners, and will conduct due diligence and know-your-future-farmers baseline data gathering activities to validate and confirm the viability of the urban community micro-farms in identified urban communities.
The three groups will facilitate the conduct of capacity development interventions related to urban farming, agro-enterprise development, and financial literacy with the support of project partners in identified urban communities where the urban community micro-farms will be established, including volunteering opportunities for interested youth and youth-led organizations.
Roel Gabo, the chairperson of Barangay Pagatpat, said the community looks forward to being one of the pilot barangays.
"This is a good help for the farmer sector, despite the pandemic, and for this to become a continuing program," Gabo said. (PNA)
