To counter farm products price hike, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) urged those in urban communities to try urban farming.
In a statement on Wednesday, Feb. 17, TESDA Secretary Isidro Lapeña said growing your own food is still the best remedy to sustain food security in the country.
"We all know that as we face this pandemic, we are prone to food shortages. That's why we, in TESDA, listed agriculture as one of our top priorities," he said.
"In fact, our training institutions were already directed last year to prioritize the agri-sector in allocating budget for their skills training. We have proven that both big and small spaces can be utilized to grow our own food,” added Lapeña.
He said TESDA has always been ready to teach the modern and proper way of planting.
There are nine short courses available under the agriculture sector in the TESDA Online Program that can be accessed through www.e-tesda.gov.ph and the TESDA App.
In May 2019, the TESDA Chief signed a memorandum directing all TESDA training centers to establish their own mini-organic farms as models on encouraging the community to grow their own food.
In a training on organic farming launched October 19 last year by TESDA-PaMaMaRiSan, a total of 100 trainees from Barangay Fortune, Marikina City were taught how to grow lettuce, eggplant, ampalaya, patola, and kalabasa in their own backyard.
TESDA also allotted 100 scholarship slots for out-of-school-youth in the City of Manila through a partnership with OMA Farm School under the Urban Community Agriculture Project.
TESDA regional offices nationwide also continue to propagate vegetables in their respective mini-organic farms with harvests being shared with nearby communities.