Farmer earns more than P300K in 3 months from Cagdianao Mining’s greening program

- Advertisement -

In 2019, the year before the pandemic hit hard the communities, Cagdianao Mining Corp. (CMC), a subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), initiated a seedling production program that continues to benefit residents in the Dinagat Islands financially and proves that there is money in ‘greening’ and in environment protection activities.

To date, CMC’s “ECOmmunity Program” has already paid up some P4.4M to participants of this livelihood program from the mining company’s five host barangays—Boa, Cuarinta, Diegas, Legaspi and Valencia—who produced more than one million seedlings and planting materials that CMC uses for its various mine rehabilitation and greening programs.

One of the participants to the program is 38-year-old Benjie C. Fruta from barangay Diegas, who received P326,340 for producing 37,000 seedlings, mostly fruit trees and native shrubs, which he and his sub-contractor, Diosdado Duhiling, 48, grew in their own nursery over a period of three months.

CMC initiated the “ECOmmunity Program” to directly engage community stakeholders in the company’s rehabilitation and reforestation commitments. Fruta and Duhilig are only two among the ‘71 contractors and 124 sub-contractors’ carefully vetted to be part of the said program.
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,” said Engr. Arnilo C. Milaor, CMC’s Resident Mine Manager.

Nathalie Radaza with one of the ECOmmunity participants: “It is heart-warning to hear personal stories of how CMC is helping members of the mining communities become financially independent.”

Nathalie G. Radaza, CMC’s Community Output-Based Program Coordinator, testified that many “ECOmmunity” participants have not had the chance before to hold in their hands such huge amounts of money.

Radaza, who recently graduated in 2018 with a degree in Environmental Science from CARAGA State University, is proud to have joined CMC right after graduation to be a part of the company’s environmental protection and reforestation initiatives which she considers a dream come true.

“Involving the communities in CMC’s greening programs is heart-warning, it is so satisfying to hear personal stories of how the company is helping the mining communities become financially independent,” shared Radaza.

Pangpagawa po ng bahay and other expenses, we feel blessed because of CMC’s ECOcommunity,” Benjie Fruta proudly says of his earnings.

The CMC mine site is located in the municipality of Cagdianao, at the Northeastern side of the province of Dinagat Islands. Its area of operations is within the Surigao Mineral Reservation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JUST IN

More Stories