January 20, 2008 | 12:00am
The Manila city government has joined hands with the Department of Agriculture (DA) to convert 23 hectares of idle land in the Manila Boys’ Town Complex (MBTC) into a small animal farm and fruit and vegetable plantation.
In a statement, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said he accompanied Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap in inspecting the MBTC, located in Barangay Parang, Marikina City, to study the possibility of turning the idle land into a “food basket” that would help ensure the sufficiency of food in Metro Manila.
“We will provide food, work and income to Boys’ Town and make it self-sufficient in food production,” Yap said.
They will tap the facility’s 450 wards, which includes 207 abandoned elderly, to work on the crops and raise animals. Many of the 243 youths in the complex are children in conflict with the law.
Lim thanked Yap for the livelihood facilities that would be set up in the complex. He said it would help the occupants of the MBTC in planting of mango, jackfruit and calamansi seedlings. They will allocate 2,000 square meters to different vegetables.
By next month, Lim said the complex would be the site of the Gulayan ng Masa program. They hope to harvest the crops every two weeks.
The DA will also provide a breeder base for cattle, goat, hog, poultry, and fingerlings for fishpens that will be constructed in the compound.
Yap said the cattle production project would also make it possible to convert the facility into a dairy production zone to supplement the city government’s milk feeding program as well as to stockpile food for the metropolis. – Evelyn Macairan
