PLDT, Smart promote food security among communities in Digos City

PLDT and its wireless unit, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), continue to bank on technology to promote sustainable farming and champion food security through its online series Kalye Mabunga and PlantSmart program.

“Creating technology-based solutions to challenges faced by communities across the country is in the DNA of PLDT and Smart. Kalye Mabunga and PlantSmart are only two of a wide range of initiatives we have that use technology for good,” said Judee Chaves, head of Stakeholder Management – Mindanao Relations at PLDT and Smart.

Supported by the Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Training Institute, Kalye Mabunga is a ten-episode show featuring the fundamentals of urban gardening and growing food at home. The series can be accessed on the Smart Communities official Facebook page and iADAPT, the online learning platform of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation.

To complement the online learning series, more than a hundred PlantSmart kits were recently turned over by PLDT and Smart to barangays San Agustin and San Roque in Digos City, Davao del Sur, providing an opportunity for these urban communities to apply what they could learn from Kalye Mabunga and create their own edible gardens.

Each PlantSmart kit contains vegetable seeds, loam soil, and fertilizer, giving more communities access to nutritious and home-grown vegetables. 

By creating Kalye Mabunga and putting it online and distributing PlantSmart kits so that communities can grow their own food, PLDT and Smart continue to find technology-based solutions to help achieve a food-secure Philippines.

San Roque Barangay Secretary Chona Villamor said, “We thank PLDT and Smart for these donations. We will give these kits to each purok so that they can start their own Gulayan ng Barangay, in support of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s food security program Halina’t Magtanim ng Prutas at Gulay (HAPAG) sa Barangay Project.” Under the project, all barangays are encouraged to create a community garden to diversify food sources, to promote food security.

“This will greatly help our community, especially with the rising malnutrition rate. We also hope this will teach our people to appreciate farming more,” shared Romel Pantonial, Barangay Councilor of San Agustin.

Office of the City Agriculturist (OCAG) officer Lovely Gepitulan said, “this program not only provides tangible resources but also empowers residents with the knowledge and skills necessary for self-sufficiency. By promoting organic farming practices, this initiative aligns with our sustainability goals, emphasizing environmental conservation and community development.”

The Group also provided planting kits to Digos City National High School, Casildo B. Nonol, Sr. Elementary School and Remedios N. Saplala Elementary School.