Los Baños, Laguna now boasts of its organically-produced vegetables. After a few months of seminar-lectures and hands-on trainings, the farmers of this town have started harvesting and selling their produce initially in fairs and festival.
At the SyenSaya 2014 organized by Los Baños Science Community Foundation, Inc., organic farmer-cooperators from the villages of Putho-Tuntungin and Bagong Silang grossed about P14,000 in just three days. This was reported by the Gender and Development Office of the Local Government-Unit of Los Baños (LGU-LB).
According to Mayor Caesar Perez and Project Leader Karen Mercado, farmers were extremely happy because they rarely experience getting such an amount from their usual day to day work.
LGU-LB is the partner implementing agency of the DOST-PCAARRD-funded project on “Enhancing Gender-Sensitive Organic Vegetable Production as a Livelihood Enterprise for Low-Income Communities of Los Baños, Laguna.” Benefitting from this project are 113 men and women from the villages of Putho-Tuntungin, Bagong Silang, Timugan, Lalakay, and Maahas.
Organic farming practices, which were followed in the implementation of this project are science-based, taken from the findings of another PCAARRD-funded National R&D Program on Organic Vegetables, which was recently completed.
LGU-LB also actively assisted farmer-cooperators in selling their produce at the Bañamos Festival of Los Baños. Employees from various agencies patronized the harvests.
By introducing organic vegetables in SyenSaya science fair and Bañamos Festival, more and more people are now becoming aware of what organic vegetables are, how they are grown, and what their benefits are to human health and environment.