On quarantine? Villar suggests home gardening

The enhanced community quarantine is a good time to start taking up productive hobbies like home gardening, Sen. Cynthia Villar said.

Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food and on Environment and Natural Resources, said work suspension and mandatory home stay created an opportunity to start worthwhile activities at home.

“Sa atin na nasanay na laging may ginagawa, nahihirapan tayo paano papalipasin ang oras. Planting is something you can start alone or with your family. It’s a way of introducing agriculture to our children,” Villar said.

Villar said there are tutorials accessible through the internet that can provide basic instructions on how to start your home garden.

“Hindi kailangan ng malaking lupain. You can plant in small spaces or containers and start with crop varieties that are easy to grow like pechay, sili, tomato, eggplant, okra, calamansi, among others,” Villar said.

Villar added that urban agriculture and vertical gardening should be promoted as a way to keep people out of the streets to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The lady senator has always advocated for home gardening as a food security strategy and as a ready source of food, especially in periods of stress such as typhoons, occurrence of frost, volcanic eruption and during this health emergency.

“Not only can home gardening help enhance food security, it will also help families alleviate micronutrient deficiencies by providing direct access to nutritious foods that they don’t have to buy,” Villar said.

She also urged the trainees who finished the Agricrops Production course from the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG) Farm Schools to consider giving online tutorials to family and friends and encourage them to start planting.

“In between monitoring the news and doing household chores, we should also take steps to boost our immune system while at home. In this aspect, the physical activity involved in gardening will also do us good,” Villar said.