Gulayan sa Escuelahan
Launched
In a support of Department of Agriculture’s (DA) “Gulayan sa Paaralan,” a proposed synergy project has recently been launched called “Gulayan sa Escuelahan.” The synergy partners include the Department of Education, Philippine Nutrition Council, PTAs, NGOs, LGUs, The Philippine Seed Industry Association with Agritechnology support from the Urban Harbest Team of the Harbest Agribusiness Corporation.
According to the Harbest Corporation president Arsenio Barcelona, while DA’s “Gulayan sa Paaralan’s” concentration is on giving away vegetable seeds to the schools all over the country, “Gulayan sa Escuelahan” enhances DA’s project by way of training school children the proper way of planting and harvesting vegetables and fruits, at the same time, teaching the kids how to properly cook veggies. Part of the training is aclassroom lecture with audio-video digital and print materials on the step-by-step procedure of the vegetable and short-term fruit gardening.
Initially, “Gulayan sa Escuelahan” has started its program in the following pilot areas: Palawan, Negros Oriental, Pangasinan and a school in Greenhills, San Juan, Manila. “Of course our main goal is to duplicate this to as many schools all around the country,” Barcelona disclosed. “We will really be focusing on the training component because a lot of kids these days do not get much training on fruit and vegetable gardening. So aside from their regular vocational and practical arts courses, this program of ours really aims to inculate a deeper appreciation of agriculture to our school children.” – RGM
source:
Marid agribusiness , 2007