A program that promotes the maintenance of food gardens in homes and schools is rolling out in Laguna to integrate agricultural, nutrition and climate change concepts in school curricula.
Spearheaded by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), the program that was launched last July was meant to foster a garden-based education and nutrition program among malnourished school children.
“The declining interest of the youth in agriculture and malnutrition among schoolchildren are two of the pressing challenges in agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia,” says SEARCA Director, Gil C. Saguiguit Jr.
The program was designed to encompass three interrelated areas of intervention—learning by doing food production activities (education), improved food diversity and availability (nutrition), and savings on food costs and added income (economics).
In partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), SEARCA piloted the program in Cabuyao Central School in Cabuyao, San Andres Elementary School in Alaminos, Crisanto Guysayko Memorial Elementary School in Nagcarlan, Majayjay Elementary School in Majayjay, Labuin Elementary School in Pila, and Pedro Guevarra Memorial National High School in Sta. Cruz—all in Laguna.
Read more: School gardens nourish pupils’ body and mind