The restrictions brought about by the pandemic had one good thing; it caused a sudden surge of interest in gardening, particularly producing one’s own vegetable for personal consumption or as hobby. Surprisingly, this activity also caught the fancy of the younger generation. 

Drawing upon this trend, the Department of Science and Technology Regional Office V (DOST-V) with its Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program partnered with the National Youth Commission (NYC) Naga Office and the Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Regional Training Center V to cater to this need.

The joint undertaking aims to capacitate the youth in the different CEST communities in Bicol on the scientific way of gardening, either as individuals and organization, and food sustainability.

A total of 240 participants from the different local government units, academe, national government agencies, private organizations attended the webinar led by DOST-V CEST Coordinator Fae B. Banda along with Nydia P. Delfin, NYC-Naga Area Officer, and Elsa A. Parot, ATI-Bicol Center Director.

Justine Rose C. Cano, Development Manager Officer II, ATI-Bicol and Alexander O. Vargas, Training Specialist I, served as webinar resource persons. The attendees were given valuable information during the discussions and demonstrations on Basic Urban and Container Gardening. Furthermore, audio-video presentations on CEST and the DA-ATI’s 4H Program were also shown to give the participants better understanding of the said programs.

On the other hand, an equally interesting topic was tackled by Jan-Rhea M. Grageda, chef at ‘Kecoy Turo-Turo To Go’ in Camalig, Albay, where she demonstrated different recipes using crops and vegetables, like the chili leaves pasta with commodore sauce and sweet potato cheesecake. An open forum followed after her presentation. 

For her part, Josie D. Albao, DOST-V Provincial S&T Director – Masbate, endorsed the Carrageenan Plant Growth Promoter technology funded by the DOST. Albao explained that this fertilizer is produced from processed natural polymers extracted from seaweeds that promotes resistance of rice crops to fungro virus and bacterial leaf blight, thus increasing rice yield by 60%.

Lastly, Director Parot of the ATI-Bicol Center lauded this initiative and said that the pandemic has taught all of us to appreciate nature, and gardening proved to be an effective stress buster in these times. “A proof that agriculture is indeed a science and an art”—this was how Parot described the webinar. (F.B. Banda / J.C. Ceriola, DOST-V)