Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Civil Society Organization (CSO) partners launched their first livelihood program on Friday, Oct. 8.
According to Sotto, because of health protocols, only the first two batches were allowed to participate in the event, with a total of 67–CSO urban farming representatives.
He explained that the livelihood program includes training, distribution of okra and talong seedlings, and discussion on the types of equipment that they can use to create a long-term sustainable livelihood.
The mayor also expressed his gratitude to the local government unit's (LGU) partners in the program: East-West Seed Foundation, Soroptimist Ph Pasig Chapter, Community Environment and Natural resources Office (CENRO), and CSOs unit.
Prior to this, Sotto plans to build an urban farm-agricultural center in Pasig together with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the youth organization of RE-TERRA.
Sotto has provided three expository sites within the city for the project.
The LGU will use the architectural designs from the Re-Terra, a competition that aims to transform the three expository sites into urban farms.
“Modern technologies are there. But we are not using them optimally to bring in the level of productivity that we need. In urban agriculture, we are looking at the RE-TERRA project as a major factor in producing the fruits and vegetables needed in the metropolis by blending the urban landscape with green agriculture—this is the kind of city that we want to see,” DA Secretary William Dar said.