Wellness in Education: The Joy of Urban Farming

QC urban farming program expanded - The Philippine Star » Business Features » Agriculture: "The new program was launched last year through the initiative of Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte with the full support of the city government headed by Mayor Herbert Bautista.A showcase program of the expanded program was inaugurated at the Quezon City Memorial Circle in Diliman, the hub of “The Joy of Urban Farming”.

Among those present during the ceremony were Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Mayor Bautista, Vice Mayor Belmonte, and Willy Co, president and general manager of Allied Botanical Corp. (ABC).

ABC, the country’s first fully Filipino-owned vegetable breeding company, supplies the program’s seed needs. It has also allocated a portion of its seed sales to support the city government’s urban farming program, according to Co.

So far, 33 base farms and 19 school farms have been set up, Belmonte reported.

“The city government hopes to replicate the garden in all barangays and schools in Quezon City,” she had earlier told The STAR’s Marianne Go."