The construction of the country’s biggest nursery in Barangay Banban, Ayungon town, Negros Oriental, is expected to be completed in April, and will have a production capacity of 40 million seedlings each year.

Provincial Environment and Natural Resources officer Charlie Fabresaid the mechanized and modernizednursery, worth about P75.5 million, sits on a 10-hectare lot in Banban.

Ayungon Mayor Edcel Enardecido and other officials said they hope that the facility can help boost the tourism potential of the town, aside from it being the source of planting materials in Central Visayas and nearby regions.

The construction of the building for the mechanized bagging of seedlings was completed, and the two greenhouses are expected to be finished before April.

Meanwhile, Dumaguete City hopes to plant mangroves and bamboos along the banks of the Banica River, in line with the National Greening Program of the government.

Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria said he will meet with Fabre soon for additional funding that can be channelled to ensure the successof the program.

Fabre said urban greening is still part of the NGP, and the advantage of the program is that local government units can plant either mangrove, bamboo, cacao, coffee, rattan, or any tree that can grow in the mountains, but except coconut, which is under the Philippine Coconut Authority.*JG

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