Cremdec to grow veggies for Korean market

The Cebu City government is trying to grow organic vegetables at the Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (Cremdec) property in the mountain barangay of Taptap to help address the demand for pesticide-free food for Korean tourists.

Ruditha Villahermosa of Cremdec, however, said that they only succeeded in growing spring onions in two plant beds so far.

“We wanted to grow organic vegetables to make supplies available for the about 50,000 Koreans who are now in Cebu City,” she told reporters at the mayor’s office conference room yesterday.

Koreans are fond of kimchi or a dish of fremented vegetables.

Villahermosa said that a Korean whom he identified only as Mr. Yeung visited the Cremdec office in Taptap early this year to ask for their assistance to grow organic vegetables.

Yeung, who now lives in Cebu, brought seeds for sesame, spinach, cucumber, green perilla, bokchoi, root/fruit radish and spring onions among others.

“He wanted to try planting the seeds in Taptap where there is cold weather,” said Villahermosa.

Cremdec also has a large area which they devote to growing vegetables, plants and trees.

The city owns a 9.2 hectare lot in barangay Taptap. Only one fourth of the property is occupied by Cremdec structures which include a training center and a 45 bed capacity dormitory.

Villahermosa said that they started experimenting on how best to grow the seeds using organic methods.

They weren’t successful so far on growing the seeds. The cucumbers didn’t grow because of the poor quality of the soil and the radish was attacked by insects after they were transferred to a seed box.

Yeung, who has been visiting the area twice a month, has been particular about not using pesticides on the plants.

If they succeed, she said they want to market their products.

They also wanted to later teach local farmers how to grow organic Korean vegetables.

Villahermosa said Yeung wanted the vegetables for kimchi to be grown in Cebu City to save on shipping costs if the vegetables would be imported from South Korea.