The city government here relaunched on Thursday its program that encourages residents to engage in urban gardening and farming.

The program dubbed “Quarantine Gulayan Mo, Show Mo,” is an initiative of the City Agriculture and Veterinary Office (CAVO) that kicked off last year when community quarantines were implemented amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

CAVO officer Cristina Sangumay said the project was conceptualized as Mayor Edwin Santiago desired to promote healthy and strong communities amid the health crisis.

“Ni-launch natin ito nitong March 2020. Madami ang nawalan ng trabaho dahil sa ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine). Nakita natin na marami iyong mga gustong magtanim kasi nasa bahay halos ang mga tao at dahil medyo nagkahirapan sa source of food noon dahil hindi sila makalabas at halos sarado ang mga establisimyento (We launched it in March 2020. Many lost their jobs due to the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine). We saw that many wanted to plant because most of the people were at home and sourcing food was a bit difficult then because they could not get out and most establishments were closed,” Sangumay said in official social media post.

For this season, she said the “Quarantine Gulayan Mo, Show Mo” will be opened in all public schools in the capital city.

At present, 44 public schools have vowed to participate in the project.

Sangumay said CAVO led the distribution and awarding of inputs, such as seedlings and gardening tools, to participants on Wednesday in Barangay Lara, this city.

The participating schools will tend to their gardens for three months until the culmination of the project in May.

Winners will be selected through ocular judging to be conducted by CAVO and social media voting.

Criteria for judging are 50 percent actual/field validation, 15 percent clustering of vegetables, 10 percent aesthetic beauty, 10 percent crop vigor, 10 percent adaptation of organic practices/technologies, and 5 percent records keeping and documentation.

“Quarantine Gulayan Mo, Show Mo” Season 2 is also in line with the celebration of the city’s 20th Cityhood Charter celebration.

CAVO’s other programs, including the “Mobile Nursery” are still ongoing. (PNA)