Seedling & Nursery Site Establishment & Enhancement

The SEEDS for FEED program was conceived as a response to the need to develop seedling banks and nurseries as a direct means of support to the reforestation efforts across the Philippines, as part of the “LIVING LEGACY: Plant a Tree, FEED Our Future” program – serving the replanting and livelihood projects of  local communities FEED works with.

The program is designed to acquire high-value cash crop seeds indigenous to the Philippines, including fruits, vegetables and other flora that provide farmers the means to earn a living and encourage a sustainable livelihood source directly from the land they inhabit.

SEEDS for FEED also explores the introduction of new organic varieties of crops as an alternative livelihood source to complement the planting of indigenous wood species (with a long-term average 7 year maturity), to provide immediate, short-term and mid-term earning opportunities for local farmers cultivating high-value crops with seasonal and perennial market demand.

Developing Seedling Banks & Nurseries

SEEDs for FEED encourages the growing of native plants for projects using local and imported ecotypes. We collect and store seeds from native plant populations in the Philippines and other countries to be planted “as close to home” as possible – at seedling banks and nurseries within a 25 kilometer radius of the land on which reforestation and farming projects are situated (e.g. in the Municipality of San Gabriel, La Union Province for the Baroro Watershed Project).

FEED aims to maximize the genetic diversity both within a population and between populations, working with UP Los Baños plant taxonomists who are trained to properly identify species and locate natural populations suitable for collection. Plant species that are targeted for collection reflect the projects we currently serve. We engage restoration practitioners in the region, including the Philippine Department of Environment & Natural Resources (at the national, provincial, central and local levels) about their current and future seed needs in order to target our seed collections appropriately for each respective community.

Seed collection protocols ensure the conservation and sustainability of existing habitats, restoration and project sites.

Our goal to share SEEDs for FEED seedlings and nursery outputs with other farmers and NGOs, who we encourage to bank their seed collections with us in planning for their future land management needs.

Click here to download the SEEDS for FEED Brochure: SEEDS for FEED Brochure

For SEED contributions or information, please contact: info@feed.org.ph

© FEED Inc., 2014-2016.