THE Dagupan government is pushing for an organic farming program in the city that will use the waste churned out by the city’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

City Agriculturist Emma Molina said under the program, every barangay will produce cheap but effective fertilizer by creating compost out of their bio-degradable wastes.

She said the compost will be used by residents as fertilizer for vegetable and ornamental backyard gardens.

Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, speaking during a seminar last week on organic farming organized by the agriculture office and the City Waste Management Office, has offered the use of her 16-hectare plot in Barangay Salisay as a model farm and show window for organic farming to encourage massive food production in the city.

Molina said the soil condition in most areas of the city, being sandy, is marginal and not fit for rice planting but is good for vegetables such as pechay, upo, ampalaya, eggplant and upland kangkong, as well as fruit and forest trees.

“Under the organic farming program, we are strengthening the greening program of the city launched in August, i.e., the planting of fruit trees and forest trees, alongside with Gulayan sa Barangay program,” Molina said.

The Gulayan sa Barangay has proved to be successful as shown in the Vegetable Harvest Festival in Barangay Mayombo headed by Barangay Captain Samuel Guadiz.

She said with organic fertilizer made from compost, the barangays can embark on more intensive planting of vegetables, using the seeds distributed earlier by his office.

At the same time, Molina said she will ask the city council to pass a resolution asking all residents to plant malunggay, one of the most nutritious vegetables based on scientific researches, which would easily grow on Dagupan’s soil.—LM

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