A Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) regional office is banking on the success of its planned vegetable garden so that it could produce enough money for a cash assistance program intended for its employees.

Aiming to produce 3,000 kilos of green leafy vegetables regularly, the DAR regional office in Bicol will establish a vegetable garden in its grounds, in effect adopting the "Buhay sa Gulay" program of the main office. The Buhay sa Gulay program is essentially an urban vegetable farming initiative.

Aside from the usual objective of providing a sustainable source of food for the community, the regional office's vegetable garden is also supposed to put up funds to assist its employees.

In order to achieve this, the leafy greens harvested from the garden will be sold to DAR regional office employees, walk-in clients, and passers-by. The accumulated income will then be used to address the employees' financial needs, according to DAR Bicol Regional Director Rodrigo Realubit.

Realubit said that they will provide growing space around the agency's premises in Barangay Gogon and at the CARP Development Center compound in Baranagay Rawis. Garden tools, facilities, and equipment will also be provided to get the garden running.

"We will convert every unused corner of our premises into productive greeneries. In doing this, we hope to influence other people and the community around us into planting vegetables," the director said.

To prepare for the project's implementation, 20 regional office employees underwent a hands-on and theoretical training on good practices for organic vegetable growing on May 21.

"We are taking advantage of this year's summer season by offering gardening basic training to our employees so they can begin planting and harvesting their bounty at work or even at their own homes," Realubit said.

DAR regional chief for support services Lerma Dino said they are planning to adopt container or vertical gardening technologies using scrap and recyclable materials to save on expenses.

"Gardening and maintenance tasks will be done entirely by employees according to their own schedules. They are required to work their own plots or areas–planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting at least once a week during the growing season, and they must also spend at least one or two hours a week to help maintain and keep the garden beds weed-free, as well as taking the proper care of the garden tools and facilities," Dino said.

A total of P57,000 was set aside for the preparation, start-up, and implementation phases, including the procurement of gardening facilities and tools on site. This include the nursery, carbonizer, vegetable crates, seed storage to fertilizer storage, water containers, bags, and terracotta pots.

"There’s a lot of money that can be taken out from this project...All we need to do is to make it as productive as possible," Dino added.