DA 6 conducts marathon veggies production training for Guimaras farmers
One of the interventions given by the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit (DA-RFU) 6 to the farmers affected by oil spill last August 11, 2006 in the province of Guimaras is the conduct of marathon vegetable production training in all five municipalities.
The marathon vegetable training started in the municipality of Sibunag last November 21 & 22 and was attended by 50 farmer-participants.
According to Dir. Jindra Linda L. Demeterio, OIC Regional Executive Director of DA-RFU 6 the training will equip the identified beneficiaries with the basic vegetable production knowledge and postharvest handling with emphasis on container-based gardening.
"The participants will be given garden tools such as hoe and trowel and open-pollinated variety (OPV) vegetable seeds like eggplants, sweet pepper, pole sitao and squash. Also one unit drum for rain trapping and one sack organic fertilizer will be availed by the farmer participants," Dir. Demeterio added.
The municipality of San Lorenzo hosted the second venue of the training wherein some 50 farmers participated on lecture/discussion and workshop on new technologies on vegetable production.
Nueva Valencia which was badly affected by the biggest oil spill caused by M/T Solar I will be the third venue of the training on November 27 to 29, 2006. This will be conducted in two separate venues namely: Barangay Igdarapdap and Barangay Lucmayan with 40 and 50 expected farmer participants, respectively.
The fourth and fifth venue will be held at the municipalities of Jordan and Buenavista on December 5 & 6 and December 7 & 8, 2006, respectively. It is also expected that some 60 farmer participants will attend the training.
The DA-RFU 6 allotted a total of P10,000 for every municipality for the conduct of this marathon vegetable training for the farmers who requested for the above-mentioned vegetable seeds.
Ms. Nelly Felarca and Ms. Felecitas Neturada, the regional in-charge in vegetable production at Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (WESVIARC) acted as resource persons on the marathon training together with technicians from provincial and municipal units.
Ms. Felarca said that the training focused on producing organic or chemical-free vegetables in the households. This can be an alternative livelihood for the farmers who requested for specific vegetable seeds from the DA.
The topics discussed were Agro-Ecosystem Analysis (AESA), overview of vegetables industry, crops management, crops protection, container vegetable production and postharvest handling.
(JEEO/RAFID 6)