DepEd converts 'idle' school lands into vegetable gardens
By Raymund Antonio and Raymund Antonio
Noticing the “idle” lands of public schools, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte pushed for the conversion of these lands into gardens to grow agricultural products.

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte at the tree-planting activity in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Sept. 5, 2023. (OVP photo)
The official said during the pilot episode of the radio program “Usapang Tol” via DWIZ that they recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with non-profit organization Go Negosyo to help in this project.
“When we do school visits especially in the provinces, we see how big the school area is,” Duterte shared in Filipino.
“Mayroon tayong mga school sites na six, seven, eight hectares. Pero ang nagagamit lang doon sa paaralan ay less than one hectare. So, nakikita ko idle lands iyong ibang area (We have school sites that are six, seven, eight hectares. But the school only uses one hectare. So, the other areas are just idle lands),” she noted.
The MOA with Go Negosyo aims to make these idle lands productive.
“Masaya ako noong humingi kami ng tulong sa Go Negosyo ni Sir Joey Concepcion (I am happy when we asked for help from Go Negosyo of Sir Joey Concepcion),” Duterte said, referring to the group’s founder and Private Sector Advisory Council Jobs Lead.
She added that Go Negosyo will help DepEd craft programs and projects, such as establishing school gardens and showcasing agricultural business events in schools.
Dubbed as “Pampaaralang Taniman ng mga Agribida”, the pilot run of the program has been implemented in Region 6 (Panay Island) and Caraga Region.
“Sa susunod na buwan, papakita namin ang mga harvest na tanim (In the coming months, we will show the harvest),” Duterte said.
Duterte noted the school gardens can become income generating for the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) and it can even augment the school’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), as well as act as a “trust fund” for the school.
Go Negosyo is implementing a current program called Kapatid Angat Lahat (Kalap) Agri Program, wherein the focus is on clustering farmers into cooperatives to scale up their production and bridge them to bigger markets and consumers.