Two months after their training on vegetable gardening, students of the beneficiary-schools of the project, Galing-PCAARRD kontra COVID-19 Program: Bio-Intensive Gardening (BIG) Panlaban sa COVID-19 para sa Ilocos, are now enjoying their first harvests.

Students of the beneficiary schools, the Mariano Marcos Memorial Elementary School (MMES), Hilario Valdez Memorial Elementary School (HVMES), Catalino Acosta Memorial Elementary School (CAMES), and Baay Elementary School (BES) of the City of Batac, are now fully engaged in growing and maintaining their school-community gardens as they begin to harvest flowers and fruits from the seeds and seedlings they planted last July.

Seeds of pechay, okra and pole sitao and seedlings of squash, bitter gourd, eggplant, tomato, and finger pepper were distributed to school-community gardens established in strategic areas where most of the students of the school are located.

During the virtual pre-dispersal training, BIG Project leader, Ms. Marissa Atis encouraged everyone in a motion to ‘us invest in their young hearts and minds the value of eating vegetables, such that, when they grow older, eating it becomes a part of their eating habit. By doing that, we influence their lifestyle and inculcate a healthy diet’.

The BIG project is instrumental in sustaining safe and healthy food in the dining tables of Ilokanoes amid the pandemic. By engaging the youth into bio-intensive gardening, they are also exposed to the potentials and promises of agriculture in bringing development in the agriculture sector especially in the rural areas.

The project also supports the Plant, Plant, Plant Program (4Ps) of the national government including the Department of Education’s program, Agmula, Agtaraken, Agtagibalay, ken Agliwliwa (4As) Program.

The BIG Project is implemented by the MMSU Research and Extension Directorates and the Ilocos Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development Consortium (ILAARRDEC) with funding support from the DOST - Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) and in collaboration with the Department of Education - Schools Division of Batac.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3Bmy0xa. 

Airing on Bio-Intensive Gardening accessible at https://bit.ly/3anMYHc.  

• NEWSBRIEF|MMSU-ED partners with DA-PhilRice

  AUG 27, 2026

  The MMSU Extension Directorate is currently completing land preparation for a 4.5-hectare rice seed production project in partnership with the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice).As an accredited seed producer, the Directorate maintains this sustained i... [view more]

• MMSU Extension Directorate Trains Pinili Farmer on Vermicomposting

  AUG 28, 2026

  PINILI, ILOCOS NORTE — The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) Extension Directorate, through its Technology Promotion and Demonstration Services (TPDS), officially opened the two-day training on Vermicomposting: From Organic Waste to Quality Vermicompost, held from August 27 to 28, 2026, a... [view more]
• This year's annual rice paddy art design revealed on August 24, 2026, coinciding with the University’s 500-day countdown to its Golden Foundation Anniversary

  AUG 25, 2026

  The official design for this year's annual rice paddy art was revealed yesterday, August 24, 2026, coinciding with the University’s 500-day countdown to its Golden Foundation Anniversary. Initiated in 2018, this marks the 9th Paddy Art to be established at MMSU with the sustained support... [view more]
• NEWS BRIEF| Rotary Club of Laoag Sunshine and the City of Batac-Bakers Ph delivered vegetable growing materials

  AUG 25, 2026

  Four days after the launch of the Bio-Intensive Gardening Program to Empower Elementary Schools in the City of Batac—collaboratively initiated by MMSU, the Rotary Club of Laoag Sunshine, and the City of Batac—Bakers Ph delivered materials to be used for growing vegetables as part of its... [view more]
• NEWS BRIEF| MMSU-ED welcomes team from Biotech-UPLB

  AUG 25, 2026

  Dr. Marlowe U. Aquino, Director for Extension, welcomed a team from Biotech-UPLB during their visit to the Extension Directorate to inquire about indigenous and edible flowers at the University. Accompanied by Prof. Eugene Ramos of MMSU-CAFSD, the team later proceeded to the Extension Directorate&rs... [view more]