Some observations from seedling demonstration and training projects in local government units

One of the major constraints in scaling up the production of high quality seedlings in local government unit (LGU) nurseries is the lack of seedling demonstration and trainings on high quality seedling production systems and best nursery management practices. Initial findings from surveys on forestry nursery operators suggest that the ACIAR seedling project needs to enhance the capacity of the partner LGUs in producing high quality seedlings. Thus, the ACIAR Seedling Project staff established demonstration nurseries and conducted a series of training events within Isabel, Palompon, and Bato in Leyte Province and in Libagon in Southern Leyte Province. After two years from project implementation, differing trends of adoption were observed as largely affected by various factors including priorities on tourism and solid waste dump site rather than nursery establishment, mass production of seedlings regardless of quality, and immediate financial concerns of landowners. This paper therefore presents some observations on the adoption of partner LGUs of recommended measures to enhance their capability to produce high quality seedlings