TESDA launches ‘Gulayan ng Bayan’ project

MANILA — The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in the National Capital Region (TESDA-NCR) on Friday launched the “Gulayan ng Bayan, Bagong Pag-asa sa Gitna ng Pandemya” project in Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City.

“The project aims to provide livelihood to the urban poor communities. It is part of (TESDA’s) whole-of-nation approach in poverty reduction,” Regional Director Florencio Sunico, Jr. told the Philippine News Agency in an interview.

He added that since TESDA chairs the Poverty Reduction, Livelihood and Employment Cluster (PRLEC) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Secretary Isidro Lapeña instructed the regional directors to come up with poverty-reduction programs that they could launch in time for the agency’s 26th anniversary this month.

“Gulayan ng Bayan”, Sunico said, was just piloted in Quezon City, and will be replicated in other districts within the year.

In Bagong Pag-asa alone, 100 urban poor individuals are expected to benefit from this project. Twenty-five of them were already enrolled in TESDA training, according to Sunico.

At least PHP700,000 was allotted for the training in Quezon City, as this would include allowances and tool kits, he added.

Beneficiaries will be taught about urban agriculture, and training will be conducted for five to 10 days, including the actual planting.

The seeds will come from the Department of Agriculture, one of the partner agencies of TESDA for this project, Sunico said.

Sunico clarified that the target for this project is to have a shared community garden. For the meantime, all of the produce will go to the beneficiaries, it is and up to them if they would sell it or have it for their consumption.