Agrarian reform beneficiaries to plant 1.5 M seedlings

MANILA, Philippines - Agrarian reform beneficiaries will engage in a massive tree planting campaign as their contribution to the government’s National Greening Program (NGP).

DAR Undersecretary Rosalina Bistoyong said the farmer-beneficiaries would plant within their communities at least 1.5 million seedlings that they themselves had produced.

Bistoyong said the program, which President Aquino launched with the signing of the NGP in February 2011, covers some 900 hectares.

She said the P8.5-million program is targeting 18 agrarian reform communities (ARCs), with operations focusing on at least 50 hectares of public lands within each community.

A total of 83,350 seedlings would be planted at each ARC, with 1,667 seedlings per hectare.

The estimated project cost for each ARC is P470,000. About P300,000 of this would go directly to the agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organization (ARBO), representing payment for the seedlings that the NGP has contracted the farmer to tend.

“This is our way of returning the favor to our partner ARBOs by providing them sources of income through seedling production and planting of fruits and other tree species primarily for fuel wood purposes and other high value crops,” Bistoyong said.

She said the project also seeks to attain climate change resiliency.