As part of bringing positive impacts to their citizens, the local government units (LGUs) of Virac, Catanduanes, and Commonwealth, Quezon City, highlighted their respective programs in line with the country's food security initiatives.
Interviewed during DILG sa DZRH Breaktime, Virac, Catanduanes Mayor Samuel Laynes presented "3+1 Tatlong Gulay at Malunggay sa Bawat Bahay Project."
Laynes said the Virac LGU has been working on the project for a long time with the aim of teaching their citizens to grow vegetables as a response to children's malnutrition.
With the cooperation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Laynes said five barangays will be given equipment and technical support for planting "tatlong gulay at malunggay".
"Tatlong gulay ibig-sabihin varieties at 'yung isa specific yung malunggay... Yung malunggay is actually rich in nutrients, lahat yata ng klase ng bitamina nandyan sa malunggay kaya naglagay kami ng plus one. So ito para magkaroon tayo ng program ng hapag ng ating pangulo yung food security," said Laynes.
Under the project, Laynes said they are rolling in different barangays to distribute vagetables and encourage children to eat healthy foods.
On their part, Barangay Commonwealth Quezon City Councilor Raymart Garcia shared his program called "ResKYUSI Food Basket".
Garcia said the ResKYUSI Food Basket started way back in his term as SK Chairman, wherein they initiated a project called Youth for Environmental Sustainability (YES).
The aim of the latter was to revive voluntarism in the environment until they came up with food waste mitigation and consumption and hunger and malnutrition projects until ResKYUSI Food Basket was finally made.
In their barangay, Garcia said they are rescuing wasted fruits and vegetables and evaluating those who still have the "highest quality" for human consumption.
"Nagrerescue po kami ng pagkain sa aming mga local market kasi napansin po namin about food security sobrang dami na po naming hapag or banfarms nasa 300 na," said Garcia.
"Nakita namin na kami po ay maraming local public markets and maraming nasasayang na mga prutas at gulay," he noted.
The vegetables collected, according to Garcia, were given to their residents, and those that remain will be put in vermicomposting areas to feed night crawler worms, which will later on transform into vermicast. These vermicasts will then be given to hapags or banfarms that are donating fruits and vegetables to their food bank.
Garcia noted that the aforementioned food bank has a planting area that has a composting area and vermicomposting.
Furthermore, the urban farms around their barangay were also given support; more than 300 have received support.
Laynes, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of food security in the nation.
"Actually, kung titingnan in terms of progress ng isang bayan o ng probinsya, bansa, actually dapat maging secure muna ang pagkain ng tao. Kung hindi mo mabigyan ng support ang agriculture, maraming maghihirap," said Laynes.
To overcome challenges in the country's food security, Laynes also noted teaching children to eat vegetables and planting them.
"Yung mga bata malnourish, yung mga gusto na nilang kainin yung mga galing na sa... fried chicken, hotdog [instant]. Doon kami nagkakaproblema, even we pursue this kind of program unless na hindi natin mabago yung attitude ng mga kabataan natin sigurado... the youngest generation turuan natin [magtanim]," the Mayor remarked.
