URBAN GARDENING. Beneficiaries of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan project on urban gardening and officials of different national government agencies and the SM Foundation pose for a photo during the launching on Friday (July 7, 2023) in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan. The project aims to give free training to 25 beneficiaries on urban gardening. (Photo by Hilda Austria)
URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan – Twenty-five indigent families in Barangay Nancayasan here will be trained for free on urban gardening in their backyards to provide them a sustainable food source and additional income.
This is under the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan (KSK) project on urban gardening by national government agencies including the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, in cooperation with SM Foundation.
In an interview on Friday, DA Agricultural Training Institute Ilocos regional director Rogelio Evangelista said the recipients will undergo a 14-week training on planting and harvesting. "We will help in terms of technical support.This is an opportunity for them to study and learn about urban gardening," he said.
The participants will attend lectures and undergo hands-on training and internship.
"The technology to be handed to them is on how to be able to establish their own backyard garden even with limited resources," Evangelista said.
He added the project aims to end hunger and help the government in food sustainability. SM Urdaneta Central mall manager Abraham Malicdem, in a separate interview, said the DA and the SM Foundation will provide the gardening kits and seedlings for the project.
Malicdem said the beneficiaries were chosen by the DSWD and the local government unit.
"They are the poorest of the poor in the community," he said. KSK is a convergence project of SM Foundation and national government agencies benefiting different sectors, including farmers and fisherfolk and other marginalized sectors. (PNA)
