Building Resilience: The ACFA Native Nursery and Community Garden Initiative

In the Northern Negros Natural Park (NNNP), reforestation is not a passive act—it is a technical and social engineering feat. At Tabi Po Foundation, we recognize that for a forest to stand, the community must also stand. In our latest collaboration with the Negros Economic Development Fund (NEDF) and our primary partners, the Aluyan-Caduhaan Farmers Association (ACFA), we have successfully activated a multi-layered capacity-building program focused on ecological infrastructure and food sovereignty.

1. The Native Nursery: Engineering the Future Canopy

To restore 30 hectares of degraded watershed, we must start at the seed level. In partnership with NEDF, we have established a specialized Native Tree Nursery in Sitio Aluyan. Unlike generic reforestation projects that use invasive exotics like Mahogany, our nursery is strictly dedicated to indigenous Dipterocarps and endemic species.

• Milestone: We have already propagated and prepared more than 1,000 native seedlings (including Shorea and Vitex species).

• The Technical Shift: ACFA members were trained in the identification and collection of wildlings—naturally occurring seedlings from the forest floor—which are then acclimatized in the nursery. This ensures the genetic integrity and survival rate of the trees being reintroduced to the NNNP.

  
  

2. Community Vegetable Gardens: Securing the "Human Buffer"

Conservation fails when the stewards of the land are hungry. To ensure the long-term protection of the Sicaba-Himogaan watershed, we integrated a Community Vegetable Garden into the project site.

This serves as an immediate source of income and nutrition for ACFA families. By providing high-yield, organic vegetable crops alongside the tree nursery, we create a diversified income stream. The farmers are no longer dependent on forest extraction; instead, they are rewarded for their roles as "Bantay Bukid" (Forest Guardians) and sustainable growers.

3. Capacity Building: From Laborers to Technicians

Through workshops facilitated by NEDF and Tabi Po, the members of ACFA have undergone intensive capacity-building sessions. This isn't just "planting training"; it is a transition into professional environmental management.

• Asset Management: Training on nursery maintenance, soil preparation without chemical fertilizers, and pest management for native species.

• Digital Integration: Introducing the community to the Roots2River framework, ensuring that every tree raised in the nursery and eventually planted in the NNNP is accounted for in our digital tracking system.

  
  

The Path Ahead: 2026–2028

The 1,000+ trees currently hardening in the ACFA nursery are the first wave of a three-year mission to restore the "green lung" of Negros. This project proves that environmental law, such as the NIPAS Act, is most effective when it is powered by local hands.

We aren't just growing a forest; we are building an economy rooted in the ground it protects.

Project Partners:

• Lead: Tabi Po Foundation

• Technical Partner: Negros Economic Development Fund (NEDF)

• Community Lead: Aluyan-Caduhaan Farmers Association (ACFA)

  
  

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