SAN FERNANDO CITY, April 12 (Joanne Namnama P. Dilim,PIA-1) – La Union residents will start receiving survival seed packs as the Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU) launched “Plants vs COVID-19” program on April 11.

Myrna Picazo,  assistant provincial agriculturist and program coordinator, said this innovation aims to provide survival seed pack for backyard gardening to the households of the province.

“We hope to provide additional food source to our residents during the COVID-19 crisis,” said Picazo.

She informed that a total of 4,000 households shall initially benefit from the program.

Two hundred households will be accommodated for each from the 20 component local government units (LGUs) in La Union.

“First come, first served basis shall be observed,” Picazo said, adding that only one seed pack shall be given to each household.

Available survival seed packs to choose from are ampalaya, kamatis, patola, talong, kangkong, upo, and pechay.

Interested individuals are advised to coordinate with their respective city or municipal agriculturist and provide relevant information about themselves and their household.   

Those who are part of the first 200 on the list per LGU shall wait their seed pack after all the registrations have been completed. It is expected that the PGLU will start on the distribution to registered beneficiaries on April 13.  

In order to attain the success of the program, Picazo said the city/municipal agriculturist will provide a program briefer to each recipient upon distribution per household.

The recipients will also be oriented on the proper planting of the seed pack they selected.   

“Their respective agriculturist will briefly discuss and clarify concerns of the individuals to ensure successful planting of the seeds,” the program coordinator said.

As part of the monitoring and evaluation, each household is expected to take a photo of their backyard garden, before and after harvest, and post it on Facebook using the hashtag #PGLUPlantsVSCOVID19.

Meanwhile in the province of Cebu, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia shared one of their programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic which is related to vegetable gardening.

Dubbed as SugBusog vegetable gardening competition, Garcia shared that just like in La Union, their provincial government also gives out free seeds for vegetables. The only difference is that, theirs is a competition to encourage the participation of their residents.

“We have seen while in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that most, if not all, are just at home, to be productive while under ECQ,” Garcia said during her recent guesting at the Laging Handa Network Briefing.

Both the Plants vs COVID-19 and SugBusog vegetable gardening competition of the provinces of La Union and Cebu, respectively are anchored on the Department of Agriculture’s program called Urban Agriculture which aims to plant vegetables and fruits using all available spaces in barangays, villages, rooftops, and vertical farming.

“We can work together to ensure household food security,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who also served as a guest on the said Network Briefing.

Laging Handa Network Briefing, a radio oriented digitally-driven platform, is initiated by the Philippine Information Agency and hosted by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Ruperto Martin Andanar. It is aired daily over Radyo Pilipinas and shared in all Facebook pages of PCOO bureaus.  (JCR/JND, PIA La Union)