MAASIN CITY, Aug. 24 (PI) -- A Covid-19 recovery program of the province now in full implementation appeared to hit the proverbial two birds in one stone, that is, providing work for displaced workers and serving as natural water reservoir during rainy days.
The five-hectare afforestation project maintained by the provincial environment and natural resources management office (PENRMO) was one of the sites of a temporary job program designed to mitigate the adverse economic impact Covid brought to the people of the surrounding communities.
In so doing, maintaining the man-made forest may soon help bring life back to the Canturing River, the area being a catchment zone of the river, said Eva Abad, PENRMO head, even as it generated rotational 10-day emergency employment for farmers around the area.
“We target 120 individuals to engage on this one since July until December,” Abad said during the media briefing/Kapihan sa PIA Wednesday, August 19.
Started in 2015 in close partnership with the Couples for Christ (CFC) community, about 3,000 pieces of acasia mangium tree species have now grown up, some taller than the average height of a person, Abad reported.
Located in Barangay Laboon, an interior, slightly upland village, 60 workers from Laboon and the nearby barangays of Bogo and San Jose have already benefitted so far since the project began in the third week of July.
The scope of work was focused on strip digging, pulling of weeds, replanting, and each hired farmhand was paid P325 per day for the labor.
Afforestation project was one of the four components of an emergency work program under the “Pangandam sa Bag-ong Panahon,” a Covid-19 recovery program designed by the provincial government to provide income to household beneficiaries affected by the pandemic.
The other three programs for emergency employment are local roads maintenance, fruit tree growing, and community tilapia production. (ldl/mmp/PIA8-Southern Leyte)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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