BAGUIO CITY – Outgoing City Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. urged residents in the different barangays to continue the practice of establishing urban gardens within their limited spaces to help the local government in improving food security among its people and beautify the city as a whole.
Yangot, chairman of the City Council Committee on Market, Trade, Commerce and Agriculture, served as the guest of honor and speaker during the annual celebration of Urban Farmers month which was held at the Igorot Park Thursday morning.
“We were able to work out the institutionalization of the celebration of urban farmers month every May that is why we will be leaving a legacy to the city’s agriculture sector wherein it will be the farmers in the different barangays who will be reaping the fruits of the annual celebration,” Councilor Yangot stressed.
Previously, the local legislative body approved Resolution No. 075, series of 2017 which authorized the celebration of the Urban Farmers month every May in recognition of the important contribution of organic farming practitioners to the growth and development of the city.
Further, the local legislative body also approved Ordinance No. 035, series of 2018 that authorized the appropriation of P300,000 from the annual budget of the local government to bankroll the activities that will be lined up for the month-long celebration of Urban Farmers month every May.
Yangot was also instrumental in the creation of the city Agriculture Division which is currently lodged with the City Veterinary Office with three agriculturists overseeing the overall situation of the city’s agriculture sector.
According to him, the presence of beautifully designed urban gardens in the houses of people wanting to practice urban gardening will definitely be an added attraction in the city that will entice more people to be actively involved in food production and beautification.
Aside from food security and beautification, the alderman stated that one of the benefits of the practice of urban gardening is the recycling of biodegradable materials that will help in lessening the volume of waste that is being brought out by the residents during the collection of garbage in the different barangays on the scheduled collection dates.
He claimed that the demand for organically produced vegetables in the market has tremendously increased over the past several years because of the popular practice of healthy lifestyle among the people, thus, the need for concerned residents to embrace the raising of organic vegetables in their limited spaces through the put up of urban gardens.
One of the successful urban farms that was established in the city was the strawberry farm of the Bilis Sto. Tomas Central Organic Farmers Association led by Samuel Lang-ay followed by the cutflower farm of Agnes Maslian in Happy Hallow barangay which started to entice more residents and visitors the said places over the past several months.
Earlier, the agriculture department also committed its continuing support to the aggressive promotion of organic agriculture which is one of the thrusts of the agency to help agriculture thrive in urban centers of the country.
By Dexter A. See
