THE Gulayan sa SM City Rosales is launching a Pick and Pay marketing concept, a joint project of the SM City Rosales Mall management, SM Hypermart and Supermarket, SM Foundation Inc. and Harbest Agribusiness Corp., which aims to develop an urban garden area as a showcase for vegetable gardening.

The program will allow fruit and vegetable lovers to pick fresh produce in the garden and then pay for those items.

A vacant lot behind the SM Mall will be converted into a vegetable garden. The lot, measuring 8,000 square meters (sq m) will be segmented and planted with different vegetables and fruits.

Four segments have been identified: 5,000 sq m for various types of vegetables, watermelon, melon and sweet corn; 2,000 sq m for leafy vegetables scheduled for weekly harvest; and 1,000 sq m will serve as the Gulayan sa Barangay showcase.

Harbest Agribusiness will supervise the vegetable garden. Graduates of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training Program in Carmen will take part in the project.

In line with the concept is a three-hour weekend market on Saturdays where farmers accredited by the SM Foundation will bring in fresh and processed produce for sale in booths at the SM Mall.