Couple gives free veggies to neighbors

LEGAZPI CITY --- For several months now, couple Jonathan Yap, 43 and Dalyn Yap, 35, of La Playa, Bonot village in this city have been providing a variety of vegetables to their neighbors for free from their home garden.

The Yap couple is giving eggplants, okra, tomatoes, bell pepper, ampalaya, petchay, cucumber, string beans, papaya including lemon taken from their urban garden measuring around 300 square meters.

Dalyn and Jonathan, together with their sole daughter Thalia, 5, and Adam Papica, a hired help, started planting a variety of vegetables since the the imposition of Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on March 17 up to the periods of general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ). From the ground floor up to the third floor of their three-storey building, the Yap family planted the assorted vegetables using different garden containers and pots, making the entire vacant spaces of the Yap’s home full of plants.

They gave their harvests to their neighbors while some of the villagers directly visited their home to ask for free vegetables.

“We’re happy because we were able to give a variety of vegetables to our villagers from our garden during the lockdown until today,” Dalyn said.

The Yap family garden provides free vegetables to neighbors and other residents in Barangay Bonot, Legazpi City. (Rhaydz B. Barcia)

The Yap couple is not only providing free vegetable including free vegetable plants, as they put it within their gate wherein interested villagers can get the plants for free.

Dalyn said that they planted a variety of vegetable to fight the boredom from the Luzon-wide lockdown but as the plants produced a good harvest, they shared the fruits of their labor to their neighbors to ease their economic difficulties.

When asked if they will continue their passion of planting vegetables even after the MGCQ, Dalyn a businesswoman managing the “Trendy Store” at Bichara Mall, said that they will continue their urban garden even after the pandemic in support of the provincial government’s call to undertake urban gardening to support food security.

“We will continue planting vegetables even after the pandemic as it provides not only good harvest but a satisfying way of life. Urban gardening will boost urban farming and food security aside from greening your home," Dalyn said.

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara urged the Albayanos to go on farming and urban gardening to sustain food production while fighting the boredom during the community quarantine.

Bichara, through the Albay Provincial Agricultural Office (APAO), provided vegetables seeds to local government units (LGUs) in 15 towns and three cities. The seeds were given to residents to encourage them to go on gardening and farming to ensure food security and ease their boredom and anxiety due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Bichara urged all LGUs to intensify their barangay vegetable gardens through his brainchild–the Albay Family Based Food Gardening Program.

Although the program has existed for almost three years now, the governor appealed to every household in Albay to go on backyard and urban gardening as the provincial government will provide them free vegetable seeds.

The program was supervised by designated APAO community facilitators (CFs) especially during the implementation of ECQ.

Rodel P. Tornilla, Department of Agriculture (DA) Bicol regional executive director, assured the province of support in terms of vegetable seeds through the DA’s High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP).