A REFORESTATION project under the National Greening Program (NGP) will benefit agrarian-reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the town of Solana, Cagayan province.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and farmers belonging to the Iraga National Convergence Initiatie Marketing Cooperative (INCIMC) recently forged ties for the 50-hectare, fuel-wood production-cum-agro forest-development project, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said in a statement.
The NGP aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares by 2016. Trees being planted include high-value crops, fruit-bearing trees and fuel woods.
The DAR chief said the ARBs in Cagayan will aim to boost farmers’ incomes through the wood-production project.
“This project is like hitting two birds with one stone. First, it will contribute to the NGP’s accomplishment by planting thousands of trees of different species. Second, it will provide additional source of income and livelihood opportunities for our agrarian-reform beneficiaries,” Cagayan Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Virgilio Acasili said.
As of December 2014, during the initial phase of the project, 45 hectares have been planted with 5,000 coconut seedlings provided by the Philippine Coconut Authority, while the other 5 hectares have been planted with ipil-ipil trees.
“Aside from their traditional crops of rice and corn, the farmers will have additional income when they sell the coconut and ipil-ipil seedlings to the market. Full-grown coco lumber and ipil-ipil are good and cheap source of fuel,” Acasili said.
Under the memorandum of agreement, the DAR will provide the funding requirements amounting to P470,000, while the INCIMC will facilitate the seedling production, site clearing, hole-digging and planting of the seedlings.
The DENR allocated 50 hectares of idle and unproductive forestlands within the agrarian-reform area and will provide technical assistance to the ARBs upon the implementation of the project.