Philippines News Agency
September 1, 2009
LEGAZPI CITY

The Aquinas University of Legazpi (AUL) has implemented a project dubbed “Urban Agriculture through the High-Value Commercial Crops Techno-Demo Farm” within its expansive campus here.

The project features 60-square-meter greenhouse where vegetables highly sensitive to rain and changes in temperature like broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower and honeydew melon are being propagated.

Gardens for more hardy vegetables such as squash, eggplant and watermelon were also established in an open area of 1,000 square meters whose perimeters were planted to rootcrops like ubi and sweet potato.

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“It has really helped us because we bring home food to our families and we also have a source of income out of vegetables harvested,” said Mr. Flores. “For every harvest, the lowest net income per family is P500,” he said noting income depends on the yield and frequency of harvest of crops planted. He cited that eggplant has an estimated minimum harvest of 10 kilograms a week. “We sell eggplant at P18/kg,” said Mr. Flores. “In the market, eggplant sells at P20/kg.”

Article originally published January 9, 2008 in the Manila based newspaper BusinessWorld. Link to JPEG image of the article here.