SM Foundation renews partnership with the Department of Agriculture to promote urban gardening

establishing additional gardens and increasing its visibility among mallgoers.

To close the loop, SM’s latest initiative, launched last March, is the SM Sunday Market, which has helped almost a thousand local and backyard farmers by providing them with hightraffic spaces at more than 30 malls nationwide to display and market their products to weekend shoppers, employees, and tenants.

SM Supermalls’ partnership with the DA will empower our fellow countrymen to comprehend the significance of urban gardening in ensuring food availability and, ultimately, enable them to establish their own agricultural enterprises.

To know more about the locations of the SM Sunday Market,visit the SM Supermalls website.

of food sovereignty in this time of crisis,” he said.

The DA prepared a transition report— outlining the short, medium and long-term plans—to significantly increase the productivity of key commodities such as rice, corn and fishery products and augment the incomes of farmers and fisherfolk. It also took account of the current state of the agriculture sector and recommendations and policy proposals from various sectors.

As part of the strategy to address the food crisis, the DA drafted a list of programs that the incoming administration should prioritize—such as the balanced fertilization strategy which involves upscaling the use of biofertilizers and stimulants.

The DA said it is also crucial to increase the budget for fuel and fertilizer to subsidize the cost of important commodities such as vegetables, following the uptick in global fuel prices.

Kadiwa marketing program.

The DA is working on the proposed creation of the Bureau of Agri-Industry and Cooperatives Development and institutionalization of the Kadiwa marketing program as well as the development of a food terminal system. It proposed the transfer of the Food Terminal Inc. back to the DA from the Office of the President.

The said policy recommendations were drafted to strengthen agriculture cooperatives and associations and help establish an efficient food value chain and logistics system to stabilize food prices, tame inflation and provide farmers and fishers bigger incomes.

“We have crafted a 10-year national agriculture and fisheries modernization and industrialization plan, and we fervently hope the President-elect will favorably consider it to attain our joint aspiration of food security and food sovereignty in the next six years,” the DA said.

Other priority activities under the “Plant,