ILOILO CITY (PIA) --   Urban farmers in Iloilo City are expected to benefit from the establishment of a community garden, an initiative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) 6 and Iloilo City government aiming to address the pressing issue of food security.

The setting up of the community garden in Brgy. Hibao-an Sur of Mandurriao district paves the way for nurturing vegetable production areas in pockets of available lands and diversifying the source of income of people in urban and peri-urban communities.

Along with this community garden comes the launching of the “Season-long Technology Demonstration on Community Gardens” under DA’s High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP).

The project also serves as a complementary effort to the Halina’t Magtanim ng Prutas at Gulay (HAPAG) sa Barangay Project led by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and DA.

The implementation of HAPAG seeks to provide communities with the means to achieve self-sustainability in food production.

According to DA, the initiative along with the involvement of the urban farmers of Iloilo City Farmers Federation and City Agriculture personnel, furthers the promotion of adopting sustainable agricultural practices and bolstering food security in Iloilo City.

“By empowering farmer students and encouraging knowledge transfer, the DA-WV HVCDP and its partners are working towards a future where urban and peri-urban areas thrive with an abundance of nutritious and locally grown produce,” DA said in the agency’s press report.

For his part, Iloilo City Agriculturist Iñigo Garingalao hailed the program as another manifestation of the food sufficiency direction of the DA 6. (AAL/LMLE/PIA Iloilo/with report from DA-Western Visayas)