Villar distributes seeds to encourage growing of food while on quarantine

Sen. Cynthia Villar has included in her relief efforts to help communities under the enhanced community quarantine the distribution of vegetable seeds to encourage home gardening and growing of own food.

Villar, chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, started the distribution of packed seeds of tomato, eggplant, pumpkin, ampalaya, sweet pepper, hot pepper, corn, sitaw, and mungbean to 61 different barangays in Las Pinas, Cavite and Bulacan.

"I've always advocated for home gardening as a strategy for food security and for the alleviation of nutrient deficiency. It will be a big help for families to have direct access to nutritious foods that they don't have to buy," Villar said.

The lady senator also said home gardening can be practiced by anybody in small patches of land, vacant lots or in containers, making it appealing to families living in urban areas.

She added that the importance of home gardens are also stressed in times of emergencies like typhoon, volcanic eruption, occurrence of frost and now the COVID-19 pandemic, where there are disruptions in the supply of fruits and vegetables.

The packets of seeds distributed by Villar also come with instructions on how to plant and care for the plants.

"We should take advantage of the quarantine, when we are all mandated to stay home and take care of ourselves, to stay productive by starting to plant seeds, grow food and harvest later on," Villar said.

Earlier, Villar encouraged the use of e-learning sites and online tutorials to learn how to plant easy to grow crops. She also said planting is an activity that the family can do together while on quarantine.