DENR partners with Marikina LGU for livelihood project

MANILA, Philippines - To provide additional income for villagers in the 26,125-hectare Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape (UMRBPL), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is allocating some 200 hectares for development into a coffee plantation in partnership with the Marikina City government. 

The planned 200-hectare coffee plantation, which will be located within the multiple-use zone of the UMRBPL, is part of the 86,000 hectares of upland areas targeted for development into coffee plantations throughout the country under the NGP. 

The undertaking was formalized recently in a memorandum of agreement signed by DENR Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje and Marikina Mayor  Del De Guzman in simple rites commemorating typhoon “Ondoy” that hit the country three years ago. 

The signing and commemoration was held last Thursday (Sept. 20) at the Café Kapitan Restaurant in Marikina City. The event was also highlighted by the formal turnover of the “Marikina Geohazard Map” and some 500 school desks to the city government for distribution to public schools. 

Paje said providing livelihood assistance to upland communities is key to the success of the government’s National Greening Program (NGP), with the inclusion of coffee as a high-value crop in keeping with the food security objective of the program. 

The planned 200-hectare coffee plantation, which will be located within the multiple-use zone of the UMRBPL, is part of the 86,000 hectares of upland areas targeted for development into coffee plantations throughout the country under the NGP. 

“The NGP was conceived not as a reforestation program alone, but also  to spur food production, and coffee is one crop that we know we can be self-sufficient by putting more government inputs to local coffee farming through the National Convergence Initiative (NCI),” said Paje. 

With a 10-year effectivity, the MOA calls for the formulation of a Comprehensive Development Management Plan (CDMP) by the Marikina City government “in accordance with the Comprehensive UMRBPL Management Plan” with the CDMP to be approved by UMRBPL’s Protected Area Management Board. 

Under the MOA terms, the DENR will provide the seedlings and technical assistance including the designation of a focal person to coordinate and work with his counterpart in the LGU. 

For its part, the Marikina City government is to “employ on a full time basis” a qualified project officer to act as its focal person for the project. 

The Marikina City government will also be in charge of conducting a census of actual occupants inside the identified area for the proposed plantation; delineate and demarcate the project area “immediately upon the approval of the CDMP, and implement the CDMP.

The NCI is a national program that combines the DENR’s resources and expertise with those of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to achieve sustainable rural growth. 

The DENR has earmarked a total of 86,000 hectares for development into a coffee plantation under the greening program.  

The largest allotment for coffee development under the NGP program is in the Cordillera Administrative Region at 25,000 hectares, followed by Region 2 (12,000 hectares) and Region 12 (10,000 hectares). Regions 5, 7, and 8 has  4,000 hectares each;  2,000 hectares each for Regions 9 and 10, and 1,000 hectares each for Regions 1, 6, and 13. 

A total of 5,000 hectares have been allotted for coffee farming in each of Regions 3, 4A, and 4B. 

Last year, some 2,554 hectares were planted with 1.5 million coffee seedlings under the NGP. 

“The NGP’s efforts to energize the local coffee industry complements DA’s and DAR’s strides to enable our local farmers to turn to high-value crops like coffee, and eventually remove the need for imported coffee beans, mostly from Indonesia and Vietnam, to meet local demand,” Paje concluded.