THE Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) office has given away some five tons worth of vegetables to Baguio City residents over the course of the past week.
During the conduct of the “Kadiwa” community pantries, the DA-CAR gave away 5,000 kilos of free vegetables to city residents during the two days of the pantries’ conduct on April 28 and May 5, to some 900 residents.
Among the assorted agricultural produce distributed at the Kadiwa pantry were Baguio beans, sayote, cabbage, potato, carrots, tomato, lettuce, cauliflower, sayote tops, cucumber, Zucchini, young corn, and rice.
According to DA-CAR Public Information Officer Aida Pagtan, the vegetables were donations from the farmers’ groups and individual farmers, with the Hiland Multi-Purpose Cooperative and the League of Associations of La Trinidad farmers being the biggest contributors to the effort.
The community pantry, one of many that have sprung up nationwide as a result of community cooperation to provide for the less fortunate, is according to Pagtan part of a push by the various branches of the department to showcase the importance of the farmers and fisherfolk in the region.
The DA-CAR is consolidating donations of vegetables, other agricultural produce, grocery items from different farmers’ groups, cooperatives, and individual farmers for the two events the DA had set up at the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) compound in Barangay Guisad.