Vegetable Program, A Repeat

The editorial board of Madyaas Pen received three articles from three agencies of the Department of Agriculture.

One article came from Ms. Arlene Edna V. La Vega of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist of Antique. According to her, the "Programang Gulayan Ng Masa (PGMA), a hunger mitigation program for Antique continues its strategy to reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the Province.

The PGMA on its Phase II of implementation benefits more farmers. A total of 10,535 households had benefited from the program through the establishment of communal backyard and school gardens in the nine municipalities of Antique.

The project covers the towns of Anini-y, Patnongon, Belison, Sebaste, San Jose, Libertad, Valderama, Hamtic, and Barbaza with high incidence of malnutrition", wrote La Vega.

PGMA is only one of the components of the Hunger Mitigation Program supported by the Department of Agriculture, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, Local Government Units, Depart-ment of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, and Agricultural Training Institute implemen-ted in the province from 2007 to the present. This program aims to uplift the living conditions of the common people and minimize malnutrition among its populace.

Other components are Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) for elementary schools and Gulayan for cluster areas in the four (4) municipalities of Sibalom, Bugasong, Belison and Pandan.

In 2008, a total of 555 cans and 29 packets of assorted vegetable seeds like amplaya, squash, pechay, eggplant, kangkong, pole sitao and okra. A total of 632 bags of organic fertilizers were also distributed to the 9 recipient municipalities for free," La Vega related, she did not specifically say the quantity provided. There are several sizes of cans and packets.

What is the Result?

While La Vega reported what the program implementers did, she did not write the specific result. From 2007 to the present, La Vega may tell the people of Antique as to the effects of the PGMA. Did it reduce the number of malnourished persons? Did it increase the per capita income of the households in those targeted municipalities?

GK – DA Vegetable Program

Another vegetable program yet to be launched this month is the GK-DA Vegetable Program. According to the Depart-ment of Agriculture (DA) the program is aimed to help end hunger among the 500,000 poor Filipinos under the Gawad Kalinga (GK) and DA.

It is a three year program geared to build 250 farms comprise of 30 families, each to have a 10 square meter garden and each family is expected to produce 10 kilograms of vegetable per family per month. This quantity is good for 30 meals or 10 days of food per month.

Rene Rafael Espino, director of GMA High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC), the GK-DA will provide the initial seeds, organic fertilizer, and technical assistance to beneficiary families who will be assisted in the proper way of vegetable growing.

This year, 500 farms will be established and another 1000 farms each in years 2010 and 2011. This will enable the people to increase their consumptions of various vegetables from 30 to 76 kilos per annum.

This GK-DA vegetable program will enlist the assistance of local govern-ment units as partner and an organized community group to coordinate project implementation. Moreover, the project will also enlist the assistance of agricultural state colleges and universities, and its students to assist provide training on proper production technologies for the beneficiaries.

This upper described program has been done and tested before. It was implemented by the Bureau of Agricultural Extension. Those vegetable programs aimed to improve family nutrition, earn additional family income, provide training on food production for future young farmers, and develop positive attitude toward the dignity of labor particularly on agriculture.

The last project of BAEX on vegetable before its abolition was "Vegetable Production in the Household Level". That was funded for P3 million by the US agency for International Development.

To assure proper implementation of this vegetable program, the DA must assign its personnel at least in a province. /MP