The recently completed PHP1.69 million provincial greenhouse nursery in Balaoan, La Union is seen to boost high-value crops production in the province.
The Department of Agriculture-funded facility in Ilocos Region, measuring 15 m by 13.6 m, can hold 24,576 vegetable seedlings in 128-hole trays or 20,160 in 105-hole trays, plus fruit tree seedlings depending on size, according to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA).
“According to the OPA, the nursery is intended for the propagation of cacao and coffee seedlings, but it may also propagate vegetables and other fruit tree seedlings,” Justin Marbella, provincial supervising administrative officer, said in a phone interview on Monday.
Through this, the farmers will have high-quality, pest-and disease-resistant planting provisions to help strengthen sustainable agriculture and the province’s local agricultural productivity.
The facility was formally turned over to the provincial government on June 25.
In 2023, in cooperation with the Philippine Coffee Advancement and Farm Enterprise (PhilCAFE) and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), the Robusta Coffee Clonal Garden and the Scion Grove for cacao production were established.
In July 2024, the BPI recognized the Robusta Coffee Clonal Garden as a Certified Coffee Mother Trees site.
In August of the same year, the Coffee Planting Materials Nursery was established, funded by the Agricultural Training Institute, to propagate asexual coffee using scions from an accredited clonal garden. (PNA)
