In its aim to win this year’s search, NRO2 is set to further improve the office vegetable garden which has been in operation since its establishment in 2017 through the assistance of DA. In addition to the work of office gardeners, the staff did a one-day vegetable gardening activity last January 24. Among the vegetables planted are snow cabbage (pechay), water spinach (kang kong), eggplant (talong), string beans (sitaw), lady’s fingers (okra), squash (kalabasa), horseradish (malunggay) and bitter gourd (ampalaya).

The maintenance of NRO2’s organic vegetable garden is made possible through its integration to the Great Filipino Workout (GFW) program of the Civil Service Commission. With the GFW program, NRO2 implements the Gulayan sa Opisina project, aside from the regular sports activities conducted every Friday.

The Gulayan sa Opisina project aims to encourage government workers plant and produce organically-grown vegetables in their respective office premises by utilizing appropriate vegetable production/landscaping technologies including cultural practices in gardening. It also aims to increase awareness among government employees on the benefits of vegetable consumption to help reduce malnutrition and prevent non-communicable diseases. DA provided seeds, planting materials, and organic fertilizers.

The region-wide search was conceptualized to motivate government offices to engage in gardening. It commenced in January and ends last week of June, this year. The National Nutrition Council (NNC) leads the inter-agency monitoring team for the said search.

The winners will be recognized during the upcoming Regional Nutrition Awarding Ceremony in July 2020, in time for the Nutrition Month Celebration. The search is open to all Regional Line Agencies and Local Government Units including barangays.
The National Economic and Development Authority Regional Office No. 02 (NRO2) joins the Search for Best Gulayan sa Opisina 2020 in support to the Regional Nutrition Committee Resolution No. 01, series of 2019 entitled “Strengthening the Promotion of Healthy Lifestyle at the Regional Government Offices and Local Government Units”.# M.A. Delos Santos, NRO2-FAD