La Trinidad, Benguet — Cordillera Career Development College (CCDC) has extended its sustainability mission beyond the campus by offering free educational outreach to local communities on the sustainable management of land for agriculture, with its participation in the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s “Halina’t Magtanim ng Prutas at Gulay” (HAPAG) project in 2024 serving as a flagship initiative.
Through its National Service Training Program (NSTP) and extension services, CCDC partnered with government agencies to promote sustainable agriculture and combat malnutrition in local communities. The HAPAG project encouraged households to grow their own food, engaging students, faculty, and residents in planting vegetables in backyards and communal plots.
The outreach focuses on practical, land-based food production. CCDC teaches communities to cultivate pechay (bok choy), string beans, and taro, imparting skills that support household food security and sustainable use of small plots of land. As Barangay Kagawad Mercidonna Alos explained during a planting activity, the goal is to “create self-sufficient homes, reducing food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty”.
CCDC’s NSTP Coordinator noted that the program aims to “help reduce food insecurity and hunger” and support local feeding programs by providing sustained access to nutritious produce. The initiative reflects the college’s broader commitment to “helping to end hunger, achieve food security, and improved nutrition” in the region.
These outreach activities align with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and contribute to SDG 15 (Life on Land) by promoting sustainable land management practices that preserve soil productivity and ecosystem health for community food production.
