Dinagat farmers pandemic-proof under Cagdianao Mining greening program

One participant was paid P326,340 for producing 37,000 seedlings, mostly fruit trees and native shrubs which were nurtured for three months

A year before the Covid-19 pandemic, Cagdianao Mining Corp. (CMC), a subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), initiated a seedling production program that made Dinagat Islands residents realize there is money in “greening” and in environment protection activities.

Involving the communities in CMC’s greening programs is heartwarning.

To date, CMC’s ECOmmunity Program has already released some P4.4 million to participants from the mining company’s five host villages — Boa, Cuarinta, Diegas, Legaspi and Valencia — and produced more than a million seedlings and farming materials for various mine rehabilitation and greening programs.

One of the participants, 38-year-old Bernie Fruta from

Barangay Diegas, received P326,340 for producing 37,000 seedlings, mostly fruit trees and native shrubs. He and his sub-contractor, Diosdado Duhiling, 48, nurtured their nursery for three months.

CMC directly engaged with community stakeholders in the company’s rehabilitation and reforestation commitments. Fruta and Duhiling were among the 71 contractors and 124 sub-contractors.

The program also aims to uplift the lives of beneficiaries through contracted seedling production and raising awareness about the environment, its protection and conservation.

“We are reaching out to the communities for this program where residents operate their own seedling nurseries from where they grow planting materials that they will provide for our reforestation and rehabilitation needs. We buy each seedling for P9 each and the residents can grow thousands of them in a few months,” Arnilo Milaor, CMC’s resident mine manager, said.

Nathalie Radaza, CMC’s community output-based program coordinator, said it was the first time for several ECOmmunity participants to hold huge amounts of money.

“Involving the communities in CMC’s greening programs is heartwarning. It is so satisfying to hear personal stories of how the company is helping the mining communities become financially independent,” she shared.

Radaza, who obtained a degree in Environmental Science from Caraga State University, joined CMC right after her graduation in 2018. It has always been her dream to be involved in environmental protection and reforestation initiatives.