A new landscape with edible crops that forms into the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) logo was unveiled Monday at the agency’s central office along Elliptical Road in Quezon City.

The project dubbed “Hardin ng Kalusugan at Pagkain” (Garden of Health and Food) was an initiative of the Institute of Crop Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) College of Agriculture and Food Science, and Edible Landscaping movement.

“The design of our marker symbolizes [what] crop production [really is], [it] encourages urban agriculture. Everything that we have put in there are tools in plant production,” UPLB-EL project leader, Dr Fernando C. Sanchez Jr., explained during the opening.

Secretary William Dar and other DA officials led the ribbon-cutting ceremony and ceremonial turnover of the shovel to symbolize food cultivation and production through EL.

Funded by the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research, under the Plant, Plant, Plant program, the garden promotes EL in urban communities as an additional source of available, fresh, and nutritious food.

It supports the efforts of the DA to establish food-resilient communities amid the Covid-19 pandemic and promotes urban farming by incorporating available technologies such as organic farming, vertical farming, hydroponics, and horticulture.

“This project was inspired by our desire to provide more food in poor urban areas. It is important that we start this at the DA. This area is planted with organic vegetables and integrates horticulture,” Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan said in his message of acceptance of the EL garden.

EL is a farming approach where artistry and basic landscaping principles are aesthetically combined with crop production to provide households with steady supply of vegetables. (PNA)