QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has recently launched the "Buhay sa Gulay" project in the town of Jaro, to provide another source of food supply to the urban residents of Iloilo City, as well as an alternative source of income to the project's beneficiaries.  

The "Buhay sa Gulay" project is an initiative of DAR Secretary Brother John Castriciones creating an urban vegetable farming project that is not a dole-out but a self-help start-up livelihood project where concerned government agencies and organizations will converge, share resources, and offer an opportunity to enable the urban farmers to produce various vegetables, that could also serve as an additional source of income.

The project site, located in  Zone 3, Brgy. Bito-on, is a 6.8 hectares of land to be planted with various vegetables including lettuce, pepper, taro (gabi), lady fingers (okra), Malabar spinach (alugbati), string beans, camote leaves (red & green), nalta jute (saluyot), pechay, spring onion, papaya and banana.

DAR-Western Visayas Regional Director Sheila Enciso delivers her message to the farmers during the program.

A signing of memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the DAR, the Department of Agriculture, the  Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the local government unit and the Grasya sang Duta sa Brgy. Bitoon Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (GRADBBARBA) also took place to ensure that roles of the participating agencies would be implemented for the success of the project.

DAR-Western Visayas Regional Director Shiela Enciso emphasized the importance of the project in uplifting the livelihood and income of the farmers through vegetable farming and its relevance in ensuring food security at this time of the pandemic.

A farmer-beneficiary jubilates, raising the ribbon during the  launching of Buhay sa Gulay project in Iloilo City. 

"With this project, other government agencies such as the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology, the Department of Health and  National Nutrition Council are expected to become markets of the vegetable produced by the said association," Enciso said.

Meanwhile, GRADBBARBA Chairperson Teresita Rizalde expressed her gratitude to the DAR for their unwavering support to the farmer's group.

"Thank you for this project, we are assured of various support such as farm inputs, training, and sure buyers for our agricultural products. We will reciprocate this by doing all our best to make this farming productive and contribute to our province's food supply," she said. (DAR)

 This free site is ad-supported. Learn more
​