The Ministry of Agriculture has announced the installation of 3,000 public school gardens across the country. The initiative is aimed at encouraging people to plant vegetables and consume fresh produce nationwide.
This planting plan is part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s new mass-food production policy launched in the last quarter of 2012 by new Agriculture Minister Luis Ramon Rodriguez.
The program, under the Agricultural Extension and Training Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, seeks to make students, families and community organizations aware of the advantages of consuming fresh vegetables for the family budget and people’s health. Deputy Minister Leandro Mercedes provided details of the program during the launch at the Rosa Duarte School in the National District. Some 650 schools are participating in the start of the program. In addition to the gardens at schools, others will be developed in community organizations and military compounds. Mercedes said that between September and December 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture already installed 2,500 gardens, distributed 637 pounds of seeds and 250,000 saplings that had been cultivated in nurseries. School garden heads are also receiving sets of garden tools including shovels, hoes, and hoses. The Ministry reports that many of the gardens are already in production and can supply country markets at a time when fresh produce have been reaching markets at record high prices, including RD$80 a pound for tomatoes.
Anyone interested in planting their own vegetables can contact Santos Cuevas at the Sabana Perdida nursery in Santo Domingo Norte, Tel 809 590-2191.
www.elnacional.com.do/economia/2013/1/8/146869/Agricultura-anuncia-instalacion-de-tres-mil-huertos-escolares-y