July 27, 2024

The City Veterinary and Agriculture Office awarded catfish or hito fingerlings and neem cake organic fertilizers to students of Roxas National High School for their 4H Club Tech Demo Project.

Senior Agriculturist Marcelina Tabelin said the fingerlings were dispersed into a concrete fish tank serving as demo fish farm for the students.

Tabelin said Roxas National High School is one of the three schools with active demonstration farms that serve as urban agriculture laboratory of learning for their students. 

The other two are Joaquin Smith National High School and Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School.

Apart from concrete fish tanks, they also have seedling nurseries and gardens.

“Even with a very limited open space of the school, they were able to make it productive and able to showcase the importance of urban farming in the City to contribute to food security,” Tabelin said.

“This project serves as urban agriculture ‘laboratory of learning’ for the 4H Club and the students of the school.  It aims to provide them with practical, hands-on experiences to reinforce theoretical concepts learned in the classroom, showcase their skill to innovate, and to influence them to get involved and love agriculture,” she added.

Tabelin said the project proves that school gardens are more than just patches of green on campuses; they are living classrooms where students cultivate knowledge and life skills.

“These foster a hands-on connection with nature, providing an innovative approach to education that goes beyond textbooks. In school gardens, students plant seeds of curiosity and reap a harvest of interdisciplinary learning, sustainability awareness, and a deeper understanding of the world around them,” she said. – Aileen P. Refuerzo