Quezon emerges as 'food bowl'

SARIAYA, Quezon, Philippines – This province, endowed with productive agricultural lands and sufficient water resources, has emerged as a “food bowl” that is now among those providing the vegetable requirements of Metro Manila.

In this part of the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region was born a program harnessing public elementary and high schools in vegetable production to help meet the food needs of the province, particularly in the second district.

The nerve center of agriculture trade in this part of the Tagalog Region is the huge Sentrong Pamilihan ng Produktong Agrikultura ng Quezon (SPPAQ) built and completed last year through a program spearheaded by Rep. Proceso Alcala of Quezon’s second congressional district.

A trading post, the SPPAQ has become the bagsakan of vegetable products from Quezon and neighboring places and from as far as the Bicol Region, it was learned by The STAR.

Farmers who bring their crops to the SPPAQ are immediately paid in cash, thus their produce do not pass through layers of middlemen and a better income for the farmers is assured, it was also gathered.

Alcala told this writer in an interview here that even vegetable traders in Manila, including those in Divisoria, come here to buy agricultural commodities which they sell in the national capital region.

Notwithstanding the industrialization of the region south of Metro Manila, Quezon was among those with vast agricultural lands left for food production.

Traditionally, Metro Manila’s food needs have been its partnership with agribusiness companies.

Where before farmers relied only on their own traditional varieties, now they have a wide latitude of choices for high-yielding and pest- and disease-resistant crops that can also withstand harsh weather.

The new generation of crop varieties, products of years of intensive research, can even thrive in seaside areas of Quezon, as found in a project billed ‘Procesong Gulay Para sa Masaganang Buhay: Gulayan sa Paaralan Best School Implementor Contest.’

Its second season just completed, the project was launched by Alcala “to generate interest in vegetable production among public schools under the Department of Education (Dep-Ed)-Quezon and Lucena City districts under environment-friendly and healthy (organic/natural) farming practices.”

Supporting it are Dep-Ed headed by Secretary Jesli Lapus, Department of Agriculture (DA) under Secretary Arthur Yap, Quezon provincial and municipal government units, and Allied Botanical Corp. (ABC), the country’s only fully Filipino-owned vegetable breeding company.

As in the project’s first season, all the seeds planted in the second season were donated by ABC headed by Willy U. Co, president and general manager.

In the first season, the 159 participating schools planted high-value, fast-growing crops such as cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, mustards, beans, and carrots.

Grown in the second season (177 schools) were semi-temperature varieties (broccoli, cabbage) and pinakbet crops (eggplant, tomato, beans, ampalaya, etc.).

It was learned that the schools could use the proceeds from the sale of their harvest for their further improvement and activities.

Although the contests primarily involved public elementary and high schools in Quezon’s second district and Lucena City, the people, particularly the farmers, were afforded the opportunity to see the showcased agricultural crops.

Among other things, they learned that even high-value and semi-temperate crops can thrive in lowlands and even by the sea.

At best, the project’s two seasons can be described as “a resounding success.”

This writer had witnessed the awarding of the contest’s second season prizes (classrooms and cash prizes) to the winning schools and pupils and students at the SPPAQ in Sariaya.

With their happy faces exuding with accomplishment and optimism, the project participants can proudly say they also are now a plus factor in the national effort to produce more and better food for the country’s burgeoning population.