Encouraging the young to fish and farm
The youth in Negros, even those from farming families, have grown leery of tilling the soil. This trend has the
potential of creating problems for the province. Thus, the Gulayan at Palaisdaan Alay sa
Kabataan (GPAK) or Vegetable Farms and Fisheries for the Youth program now known as Reinforcing the Right development of Children in Schools and Communities wa
s created to
address this concern. George Arnaiz and has helped
increase agricultural production, and reduce poverty and hunger by maximizing the
productivity of school gardens. The program aimed to: provide schools additional income and supply of vegetables and fish
for the feeding program; serve as vehicle for relevant education of children and their family;
complement the government’s goal for food production to attain sustainable agriculture;
and enhance the socio-cultural well-being of the people and the community. Because of the clear benefits, the program was warmly embraced by the stakeholders—the
schools, students, and parents. Thus, from a total of 1,456 hectares before GPAK was
launched, the area devoted to vegetable farms increased by 139.31 hectares with the
inclusion of idle school lots. This translated into a 9.7% contribution to the province’s total
vegetable area and about 8.4% or 668 metric tons in production. The program also added
8% to the tilapia production in the province with the establishment of 23 ponds. In the last
three years, the province’s total tilapia production was 49 metric tons (MT), with GPAK
production accounting for 3.98 MT. The availability of fresh vegetables and fish benefited the school-feeding program,
minimizing school expenses by up to 40%. Most importantly, this reduced malnutrition among
school pupils from 39.21% in SY 2002-03 down to 22.90% in SY 2004-05. For the schools, the program generated a total of PhP1.670 million during the project’s first
three years. The amount helped the schools fund the improvement of their facilities and
other gardening needs. GPAK also helped preserve and improve the environment through the promotion of organic
vegetable production with the use of compost, vermin-compost and vermin-casts, and
natural farming technology systems. The program also helped promote people empowerment with the formation, strengthening
and institutionalization of people’s organizations and community-based structures, such as
the formation of the Young Farmers and Young Savers Clubs. It also strengthened and
actively involved the Parents Teachers Community Association and barangay councils. Eventually, other organizations volunteered their services (such as the Karancho, an
association of habal-habal or motorbikes for hire, which offered to haul compost and
organic materials).
