With its PlantSmart initiative, the PLDT group demonstrates its dedication to ensuring national food sustainability and security, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

To celebrate National Cooperative Month in October of last year, PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) gave out more than 1,500 planting kits to schools, community groups, and local governments in VisMin. 

These kits contained vegetable seeds, loam soil, and organic fertilizer. Additionally, the business gave 600 kits to 20 VisMin partner cooperatives.

Beneficiaries of the PlantSmart kits in the cities of Ormoc, Digos, Butuan, and Cotabato were motivated to spread the word about their urban planting initiatives.

“We are grateful to be chosen as partners for this effort that is aligned with the Department of Agriculture’s Plant, Plant, Plant program. A lot of us are interested in having our own small gardens at home, and with these free planting kits, we can finally start", lawyer Aelan Arumpac, the Cotabato City administrator, said.

Farmer-parishioners in Bantayan Island, Cebu, want to turn their church's rear lot into a farm. "We appreciate PLDT and Smart's assistance in helping us establish our farm in the parish. The Rev. Fr. Jimmy Tolintin,  Immaculate Conception Parish's parish priest, stated that we would make the most of these kits to feed and sustain our people in Madridejos.

In a statement, PLDT/Smart claimed that the PlantSmart kits also assisted 30 Mindanao schools in reestablishing their Gulayan sa Paaralan Program at the commencement of regular classes in August of last year. 

Over 200 villages across the country have received more than 7,400 planting kits from PLDT and Smart.

Following the successful opening of its GrowHub in Makati, the Group also opened a PlantSmart GrowHub in Cagayan de Oro City. 

The GrowHub is an edible garden created by PLDT and Smart employees in vacant office spaces to promote sustainability and volunteerism. In Bukidnon, more PlantSmart GrowHubs will soon sprout.

“We thank all our partners who helped conceive, build and actualize our PlantSmart programs. Through these collaborations, we underscore our commitment to sustainability and shared value programs to benefit farmers and Filipino communities,” said Cathy Yang, PLDT, Smart FVP and Group Head for Corporate Communications.

The project is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, #12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and #2: Zero Hunger.