DA-7 readies research stations for Plant, Plant Plant program

Salvador Diputado, regional executive director of the Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas, visits the Bohol Experiment station in Ubay as part of their preparation for the Plant, Plant, Plant program initiated by Agriculture Secretary William Dar. More on this shortly. | DA-7 photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines—To prepare for the Plant, Plant, Plant program initiated by Agriculture Secretary William Dar, the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Visayas is now preparing its various research stations.

As part of the preparation, DA-7 regional executive director Salvador Diputado conducted ocular inspection of the research stations in Bohol, including the Bohol Experiment Station in Ubay.

‘We are having this visit to check on our station’s preparedness to adequately respond to Secretary William Dar’s Food Resiliency Program amid community quarantine,” Diputado said. 

He added that these stations are propagating planting materials like seeds and seedlings which will be made available to the different local government units (LGUs) in the region.

Read: DA: PH has have enough rice supply to last for 84 days by the end of June

The DA Central Visayas has nine research centers dedicated to crops and livestock production. 

Majority of these centers are located in the Province of Bohol. These research stations’ inventory include stocks of vegetable seeds, seedlings of fruit trees, root crops, among others.

According to Diputado, the DA stations in Bohol are now preparing vegetables and fruit seedlings for distribution to the LGUs in Bohol province.

The DA-7 had already turned over various vegetable seeds to Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia for the cities and municipalities of Cebu. This is in addition to the seeds given directly to the LGUs in Cebu who requested for seeds from them, he added.

They had also given seeds to the LGUs in Negros Oriental and Siquijor.

The vegetable seeds distributed include eggplant, ampalaya, okra, tomato, pole sitaw, upland kangkong, squash, upo, patola, pechay, bell pepper, cucumber, brocolli, radish, lettuce, chinese cabbage, sugar peas and Baguio beans.

The distribution of seeds to LGUs would depend on the specific crops requested, the location and crop suitability.

This initiative is geared for food security during this health crisis as families are encouraged to plant vegetables using available space or improvised containers. /bmjo