By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — Education Secretary Sonny Angara is exploring measures to redirect surplus vegetables from farms to public schools, turning excess agricultural produce into nutritious meals for millions of Filipino learners.
The initiative comes amid reports of farmers disposing of unsold vegetables because of oversupply and limited buyers, including the reported dumping of truckloads of carrots and cabbage along a roadside in Tublay, Benguet.
Angara said the Department of Education (DepEd) is looking into ways of linking farmers with the agency’s expanded School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP), which now serves around 4.6 million beneficiaries, including Kindergarten and Grade 1 pupils.
“We want to help our farmers while ensuring that there are nutritious and hot meals in schools for our learners,” Angara said.
Under the proposal, surplus fresh vegetables could be channeled to participating schools for use in feeding programs, subject to food safety and other applicable requirements.
The move seeks to address two concerns at the same time—providing nutritious food to schoolchildren while giving farmers an additional avenue for disposing of excess produce instead of leaving their harvests unsold or allowing them to go to waste.
Angara also called on companies and organizations to participate through the Adopt-a-School Program, encouraging qualified private partners to purchase vegetables directly from farmers and donate the produce to schools participating in the feeding initiative.
The Education chief noted that qualified private-sector partners may avail themselves of a 150-percent tax deduction under the Adopt-a-School Act.
The proposed linkage between farmers and school feeding programs could provide a more direct market for agricultural producers while strengthening efforts to provide hot and nutritious meals to learners.
For DepEd, the initiative could transform farm surplus from a waste problem into a potential source of food for children in schools.
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