The Quezon City government opened a so called Malunggay Park at the Tivoli Village in Batasang Hills, Quezon City, where poor residents could learn vegetable farming.
The Halamanan sa Bakuran project was initiated by Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista in support of the clean, green and nutrition program of Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
Bautista said the Malunggay Park would also be the pilot area for the propagation of malunggay as the most useful plant for food, medicine and biofuel.
The Department of Agriculture’s Biotechnology Program Office (DA-BPO) under Director Alice Ilaga led the opening of the vegetable seedling with the planting of malunggay plants.
Bautista said Ilaga and representatives from the Bureau of Plant Industry will also hold a seminar on how to plant malunggay.
The establishment of the Malunggay Park is a project of the BIONET Pilipinas, an organization of academicians, scientists, local governments and ordinary farmers that advocate and support biotechnology for improved farming. – Perseus Echeminada