Cebu City - “Vegetable Hour”, a simultaneous planting of vegetable in schools, communities, hospitals and prisons region-wide will mark the opening of the Nutrition Month2012 observance. This will be held at 8:00-9:00 a.m. on 02 July 2012. This is in line with the 38th Nutrition Month celebration this July which carries the theme “Pagkain ng gulay ugaliin, araw-araw itong ihain!” NNC 7 Nutrition Program Coordinator Parolita A. Mission said that four key areas were identified for the launch including the Mabolo Elementary School for school setting, Operation Second Chance for the prison, Barangay Mambaling for community setting and Vicente Sotto Medical Memorial Center for hospital setting.
Officials of the Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) with RNC Chair and DOH-CHD 7 Regional Director Asuncion M. Anden, Media Information Network for Nutrition and Development 7 (MIND 7) President Mr. Jun P. Tagalog, Cebu City Nutrition Council (CCNC) with its Chair and City Mayor Mike Rama and Mission will lead the ceremonial planting in Mabolo Elementary School together with the school children.
Other officials of RNC, CCNC and MIND 7 will also lead the planting of vegetables in Operation Second Chance, Barangay Mambaling and V. Sotto Memorial Medical Center. The vegetable gardens will then be endorsed to the school principal, warden, medical center chief and punong barangay, respectively. During the Vegetable Hour, vegetable cooking demonstrations and fun learning activities will be organized.
Tagalog said that to prepare for the special hour of actual planting of veggies, the Media Information Network for Nutrition and Development 7 (MIND 7) held a countdown in print, broadcast and social media through its members and media friends starting 24 June. The count-down will last until few seconds prior to 8:00 o’clock of 02 July.
To encourage greater participation of the general public and provide easy access for seeds and seedlings, a distribution center will be set-up starting 29 June until 02 July. The center is located at the Upper Ground Floor (beside National Bookstore), SM City Cebu, NRA, Cebu City. The municipal, city, provincial and regional agriculture offices will also provide the necessary seeds, seedlings and cuttings to interested participants of the Vegetable Hour.
The Vegetable Hour is organized by the National Nutrition Council 7 thru the Regional Nutrition Committee, Cebu City Nutrition Council and the MIND 7.
All readers, listeners, netizens are enjoined to participate in the vegetable hour by planting vegetable in all possible areas in their homes, schools and communities through urban, or fence gardening, gardening in water-logged areas, natural canning, magic square garden or hydroponics. You may visit your local agriculture office for guidance. // Arcile Padrigao, CTU- Devcom Intern
