KORONADAL CITY -- It's all systems go for the city's 9th Tree Growing Festival on Saturday, with more than 100,000 trees ready for planting in various sites.
City Administrator Cyrus Urbano said Friday that more than 2,000 volunteer-planters have already signed up for the annual massive tree planting festivity, which is considered as among the biggest in Mindanao.
As in the previous years, Urbano said they expect the number of volunteers to double during the actual tree growing activity on Saturday through the participation of barangay and community stakeholders.
Malacañang declared June 29 as a special non-working holiday in the entire city to give local residents the "full opportunity to celebrate and participate" in the activity.
Urbano said among those who confirmed to participate are students of various colleges and high schools, as well as employees of the city government, regional line agencies, and some private establishments.
"We are ready and everything is now all set, especially with the planting materials and the mobilization of the volunteers," he said in a radio interview.
The official said the volunteers are scheduled to converge at the city’s rotunda at about 4 a.m. where they will be deployed to various planting sites covering some 300 hectares.
The city environment and natural resources office (Cenro) said the identified planting sites are mountainous portions of the city, upland farms, and riparian zones or lands near rivers and streams.
The planting materials, majority of which were prepared at the city nursery, includes indigenous trees, fruit-bearing trees, and coconut.
Some of the planting materials were provided by local companies and non-government groups, among them the Dole Philippines-supported Mahintana Foundation.
Cenro has partnered with at least 300 local farmers for the inclusion of their lands in the tree growing festivity. The city government has planted hundreds of thousands of trees in parts of the city since the festival was launched in 2011.
After the tree planting, Urbano said local government personnel will revisit the sites to check the status of the planted trees and replace those that did not survive.
"This is a continuing activity and we're hoping that this will be sustained in the coming years," he said. (PNA)
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Topic: Tree Growing Festival in Koronadal City (Read 348 times)