2 Laguna towns to give veggie seeds, seedlings to residents

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines — Los Baños and Cabuyao City in Laguna province are planning to give vegetable seeds, seedlings, and produce to locals amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Separate announcements were made by the municipal and city governments on social media Monday.

In Los Baños, residents can compile a list of those who want to receive seeds or seedlings and send it to the Facebook page of the municipal agriculture office. The seeds and seedlings will then be sent to their respective barangays.

“The seed distribution is a regular program of our office,” municipal agriculturist Cheryll T. Laviña-Gonzales said in an online interview.

“We give them assorted seeds and sometimes seedlings. Among the seeds that we distribute are pechay, mustard (mustasa), okra, tomato, Tagalog chili (siling haba), radish, sponge gourd (patola), bitter gourd, string beans,” she said.

According to Laviña-Gonzales, the seed and seedling distribution is being enhanced to make the townspeople self-sufficient and food-secure in the coming weeks.

The city government of Cabuyao launched its Harvest on the Go program where the city government will buy produce from Cabuyao farmers and distribute them among the locals.

Farmers who want to sell their produce can get in touch with the city agriculture office.

/atm