Cebu City is encouraging its 80 barangays to test at least 20 varieties of fruit-bearing trees each to determine which crops can best adapt to the city’s different environmental conditions.
Councilor Alvin Arcilla proposed the initiative through a council resolution that calls for experimental and propagation areas where barangays can plant, cultivate and monitor different fruit-tree varieties.
The program aims to identify trees that can grow, produce fruit and remain resilient under varying soil, climate, elevation and other conditions across the city.
Under the approved resolution, each barangay is encouraged to identify a suitable area where it can plant at least 20 kinds or varieties of fruit-bearing trees.
Barangays participating in the program will protect, maintain and monitor the trees in coordination with the City Agriculture Department (CAD).
They will regularly document the trees’ growth, survival, adaptability and development.
Once the trees begin producing fruit, barangay personnel and CAD representatives will evaluate the quality of the produce through taste testing and other relevant observations.
The city will use the trees’ growth, resilience, productivity and fruit quality to determine which varieties perform best in each barangay.
The CAD may recommend removing or replacing trees that prove unsuitable, unproductive or produce poor-quality fruit, allowing barangays to test other varieties.
The program also aims to propagate successful varieties.
Barangays will preserve fruit-bearing trees that show good adaptability and productivity and produce quality fruit as sources of seedlings, cuttings, grafting materials or other propagation methods.
The city could then reproduce these varieties and introduce them to other suitable areas.
The CAD will provide technical assistance on tree selection, planting, monitoring, evaluation and propagation and maintain records on the performance of different varieties in each barangay.
The records could eventually form a localized inventory of fruit-bearing trees suited to Cebu City’s varying environmental conditions.
The resolution positions the initiative as part of the city’s efforts to promote urban greening, food security, biodiversity and environmental protection.
It also recognizes that a fruit-tree variety that performs well in one area may not produce the same results elsewhere because of differences in soil, climate, elevation and other conditions.
The resolution encourages barangays to establish the experimental areas but does not compel all 80 barangays to participate.
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