Urban vegetable farm to rise in QC

MANILA, Philippines — A 7-hectare plot of land in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City, will be converted into an urban vegetable farming site to provide an alternative source of income for selected residents.

A total of 70 beneficiaries from New Greenland in Barangay Bagong Silangan will be trained to tend the Buhay sa Gulay farm.

The site is a no-build zone since the area is flood-prone, but several residents have cultivated the land for years.

To maximize the land and yield, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Quezon City government on Friday entered a memorandum of understanding to convert the land into an urban vegetable farm.

The DAR expected the farm to yield more than 700 metric tons of vegetables.

These include 29.7 MT of eggplants, 700 kilograms of string beans, 350 MT of pechay, 280 MT of mustasa, 25 MT of squash, and 20 MT of bitter gourd. Income from the crops sold will be divided among beneficiaries. —Nikka G. Valenzuela