MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga — A Harvest Festival was recently held to conclude the Lowland Vegetable Technology Demonstration and Derby held in Barangay Sta. Ines.

The project is a collaboration of the National Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Program (NUPAP), High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP), along with private companies engaged in seedlings and fertilizers.

The festival aims to boost the capability of farmers in planting lowland vegetables using new technologies and procedures.

A total of 4,212 sq.m. area was used to plant various vegetables such as talong, kamatis, hot pepper, siling panigang, kalabasa, sitao, ampalaya, okra, patola and upo.

The private companies were given 702 sq.m. each to showcase their products as they planted vegetables.

Some 38 farmer members of the Farmers Cooperatives and Associations in Mabalacat City were given training on vegetable production, marketing, record keeping, and financial literacy. They are divided into seven groups with one private company assigned to them.