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MHS agriculture class tills school plot
The Marianas High School “Basic Agriculture” class tilled the ground of their 40-by 60-foot plot inside the campus last week.
The Marianas High School “Basic Agriculture” class, led by farmer Isidoro Cabrera, rightmost, participates in a hands-on activity inside the campus.
(Dennis B. Chan)
The class, led by farmer Isidoro Cabrera, teaches students the “how-to’s” of agriculture. Students will sell their harvest at the upcoming Agricultural Fair in May.
They will be planting and harvesting radishes, Chinese cabbage, water spinach (kangkong), bell pepper, and eggplant, among many others, in the coming weeks.
Last Friday afternoon’s, Cabrera taught students about hydropnic agriculture and container gardening, and how to set up an irrigation system.
The plot will use a nearby MHS water tank for irrigation.
In three to five weeks, Cabrera said, plants should be about waist-high.
A harvest is expected by end of March, he said, with some plants taking longer than others.
Chinese cabbage and kangkong, for example, would take 30 to 35 days, and eggplant would take 60 to 70 from planting to harvest.
Cabrera has plans for several field trips to the island’s larger farms. One would be to Cabrera’s hydroponic farm, another would be to the island’s largest pineapple farm around Mt. Tapochau, or the Kagman commercial farm plot, for example.
Students with good attendance earn a credit for the class and a certificate of completion.
“It’s important to know about agriculture,” one student said when they were asked why they took the class. “It is important to grow crops…I want to know [how to plant], if we don’t have food,” she said.
