PIA Press Release
Monday, January 30, 2012

DENR 13 to produce 1.4M fruit tree seedlings for NGP this year

BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 30 (PIA) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Caraga Region is set to produce 1.4 million pieces of seedlings of fruit trees and indigenous and premium species for its reforestation activities under the National Greening Program (NGP) this year.

DENR Regional Executive Director Leonardo Sibbaluca said senior forest officials of the PENRO and CENR offices in the five provinces of Caraga region have made the commitment of this large seedling production during a meeting presided over by the Regional Technical Director of the Ecosystem Research and Development (ERDS) Virgilio dela Cruz on Friday at the DENR Training Center in Butuan City.

The ERDS, which has been tasked to handle the procurement and production of seedlings for the NGP, has submitted a detailed program on the production and procurement of quality planting materials for 2012 with a total cost of P 22.5 million.

Sibbaluca said there are about 13,290 hectares of denuded forest lands and tree parks that were identified and prepared as potential sites for tree planting activities in the different areas this year.

He said the production of seedlings will likewise be initiated by the Department of Agriculture which is expected to contribute about 2 million pieces of fruit tree seedlings .

Among the kind of tree species that were suggested to be produced are bamboo, banaba, bangkal, coffee, cacao, dao,ilang-ilang, ipil, kamagong, lanipao, lauan, mahogany, molave , rubber, and some of the vanishing species like bitaog, balat-buaya, baitanghol, sagimsim, agoho and lanutan.

Last year, the DENR 13 has plated fruit tree and indigenous tree seedlings on a 5,000-hectare unproductive forest land spread over the different areas of the region. (DENR-13/PIA-Caraga)