NAIC, CAVITE. 200 homes in this Project Pearls community received pinakbet Growkits through the urbangardening initiative of Corteva Agriscience and AGREA Foundation. Each Growkit is an early Christmas gift worth cultivating: the fulfilling experience of growing one’s own food.
"These Growkits are all-in-one vegetable growing kits complete with seeds, seedlings, growing materials, fertilizers, and manuals," said Cherrie Atilano, AGREA’s Founding Farmer, President and CEO.
"In just two to three months, these Growkits will provide our beneficiary families their own vegetable gardens that can help in providing healthy food for their families," she adds.
Made possible through a grant support from Corteva Agriscience, AGREA Foundation distributed 200 "Pinaka-bet Mo" (Pinakbet) Growkits to 200 families of Project Pearls in Naic, Cavite, last 22 September 2020.
Each Growkit distributed contained seedlings (kamatis and talong), seeds (ampalaya, okra, kalabasa, and sitaw), soilless potting mix, seedling tray, wooden germination tray, natural-based fertilizer, and a Growkit manual translated to Filipino.
A live demonstration on how to use the Growkit, including ways to grow and vegetables care and maintenance were also conducted onsite. The demonstration was led by Benjamin Jorge Cadag, AGREA’s Director of Agribusiness and Farm Management.
Project PEARLS’s Mission
Project PEARLS is on a mission to help the poorest children and families to have a better life through education, literacy, nutrition, healthcare, empowerment and livelihood. The organization has been helping thousands of urban poor for the last ten years. They have communities in Tondo, Cavite, and Bulacan.
Most of the beneficiaries in the Project Pearls community in Naic, Cavite are women of the family (mothers). The community is a relocation site of people from Tondo and other parts of Metro Manila. Most of the beneficiary families also have a vacant space at the back of their homes which can be used to expand their home vegetable gardens.
Growkits: AGREA’s urban gardening initiative
Growkits is AGREA's urban gardening initiative that started during the Covid-19 health crisis. This initiative encourages people to experience the fulfilling nature of growing one's own food. To date, AGREA has already delivered 827 Growkits to urban gardening enthusiasts and organizations that support at-risk communities like Corteva Agriscience, Metro Pacific Investment Foundation, ANZ, Youth Rising, and Zonta International.
In partnership with Bukid Amara, AGREA’s Growkits aims to give livelihood to coconut farmers in Quezon Province. By purchasing a grow kit, people can start growing their own food right in their own homes. These growkits are complete sets of the following: FunnyGang (sinigang mix), Pinaka-Bet (pinakbet mix), Sup-Herb (gourmet herbs), and Flower Power (edible flowers). These sets have crates, seeds, seedlings, soilless potting mix, seedling tray, wooden germination tray, natural based fertilizer, and growing manual.
"Thank you very much, Corteva (Heart of Nature) Agriscience for partnering with AGREA and Project Pearls to provide these Grow Kits to at-risk communities to start growing their own food for sustainability and resiliency," said Cherrie Atilano.
"One of our favorite Proverbs says, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ Here, we are teaching them the basics of growing their own food and providing them the starter kits," Cherrie adds.
For more information about AGREA Growkits, or if you are interested to partner with AGREA in this urban gardening initiative, kindly contact us and send us a message.