TO ENHANCE food production amid the Covid19 pandemic, the Department of Education in Central Visayas, together with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Science and Technology, recently launched the “SUGBUsog, Estudyanteng Busog, Luwas ug Himsog” program.

Under the program, vegetable seeds like okra, cucumber, eggplant and squash will be distributed to public elementary and high schools in the region.

DA-7 Regional Executive Director Salvador Diputado said the program is in response to the call of Agriculture Secretary William Dar to local government units to boost farm production.

“DA-7 is one of the three national agencies that signed a tripartite agreement last Thursday for the program’s implementation. The two others are DOST and DepEd-7 as the base agency,” Diputado said.

“Through the provision of farm inputs such as vegetable seeds and organic fertilizers, DA will provide basic production technology trainings and other logistic support to the program, while DOST-7 will provide the necessary training on product value-adding and other by-products processing. DepEd-7 is tasked to monitor its implementation,” he added.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said that the program aims to make the province food sufficient.

To encourage the public to actively participate in the program, Garcia plans to launch a contest for the most productive and beautiful garden in all the participating schools in the province.

“We are planning to establish a coco nursery in the province to optimize coconut production and ensure the livelihood and productivity of coco farmers in the province,” she said.

“Together with DA-7, Philippine Coconut Authority-7 regional manager Brendan Trasmonte, provincial agriculturist Roldan Saragena and top officials of Cebu Technological University-Barili campus, we have discussed the plan to establish a hybrid coco nursery facility in CTU’s more than 90 hectares of idle land,” she added.