Four senior agriculture students at the Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte, are growing high-value vegetables provided by East-West Seed Company on 3,000 square meters allocated by the university so they could earn money for their tuition and other school expenses.

The four are Jonathan Requiso, Rodel Morales of Ormoc City, Noel Gantala of San Francisco, Southern Leyte (all horticulture majors) and Andy Cornell Bornillo, an agronomy major from Bien Unido, Bohol. They are trained by specialists of the seed company on the improved techniques of growing high-yielding hybrid seeds. Dr. Elizabeth Briones of VSU, on the other hand, serves as the coordinator.

The four work as a team so that when one is not busy with his academic work, he attends to the vegetable garden. They themselves prepare the plots for planting. They germinate the seedlings, transplant them and take good care of them so that they will produce a reasonable harvest.

Their standing crops include 560 hills of okra which have given them so far 40 kilos sold at P25 per kilo. The crop is still productive and they expect to harvest more from the same. The first harvest from their 150 sweet pepper plants will be made soon. An earlier planting of 150 plants had yielded 23 kilos which they sold for a total of P1,955.

The 460 hills of Big C cucumber that they planted last May yielded 395 kilos which grossed them P7,330. They have also a planting of the Pipinito cucumber which is just beginning to produce fruits.

They are also expecting to have a good income from the 127 Morena eggplant seedlings that they planted last June 12. They just harvested the first 10 kilos last July 27 which they sold at P30 per kilo.

They are now harvesting twice a week at an increasing volume. They expect to harvest a lot because the plants are very healthy and robust.

Besides the money that they make, what is even more important is the skill that they acquire in vegetable production. That could start them in their own agribusiness after graduation.