BAGUIO CITY – Some three hundred urban gardening enthusiasts and organic farming practitioners are expected to attend the whole day Food Gardening Congress scheduled on July 28, 2018 in one of the hotels along Legarda Road.
National Nutrition Council – Cordillera regional program coordinator Rita Papey said that the gathering is organized by one of the giant media networks in the country purposely to advocate quality food production among residents in urban centers like Baguio City while the City Health Services Office (CHSO) and the NNC-CAR will take charge of inviting the participants to the one day affair.
Among the activities lined up by the organizers include exhibits, lectures by urban gardening and organic farming experts, demonstrations by organic agriculture practitioners and display of food products by the urban gardening practitioners.
The 4-leg Food Gardening Congress will be conducted in 4 major cities in the country, particularly Davao City, Cebu City, Metro Manila and Baguio City, to drum beat the need for residents to practice urban gardening, organic agriculture for food self-sufficiency among the residents.
“We need to sustain our advocacy on good nutrition and healthy lifestyle for us to reach more people to embrace food- self-sufficiency as one of the best ways in ensuring the production of quality crops even in urban centers like Baguio City,” Papey stressed.
She extended the invitation to those interested to attend the event for them to directly get in touch with the CHSO officials and personnel to ensure that they will have slots in the conduct of the gathering and for them to learn the latest trends in urban gardening and organic farming right in the heart of the urban centers.
According to her, priority to attend the event are the beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to inculcate to them the importance of maximizing the use of the limited spaces in their areas for the production of crops that they need for their daily sustenance among other basic needs.
The NNC-CAR official expressed optimism for the successful conduct of the one day affair to help increase the number of organic farming practitioners in the city and to provide the people with alternative sources of food, especially the supply of organic crops, for them to be food self-sufficient even when living in the populated urban centers.
Papey claimed that it will be the CHSO in coordination with the NNC-CAR that will determine the qualified participants to the gathering for them to be able to maximize whatever available limited areas in their residences for the production of the crops that they could eat for their daily food requirements.
It can be recalled that the NNC central office tapped one of the giant media networks to organize the Food Gardening Congress as part of the numerous activities lined up by concerned government agencies in celebration of Nutrition month every July wherein the practice of good nutrition and healthy lifestyle is always being emphasized to the residents to address the prevalence of malnutrition in their places.
By Dexter A. See
Banner photo by Joseph B. Manzano
