Review of Current Nursery Accreditation and Seedling Certification Systems for Forest and Fruit Trees in Leyte and Samar Islands, the Philippines

Abstract

Forest nursery and seedling production in Leyte and Samar has been an unsustainable development and livelihood undertaking, the focus of which has been solely to serve the usual funded reforestation projects that merely recognize quantity rather than quality of planting materials produced. As a consequence, forest nursery and seedling production has never been established as a sustainable business venture, particularly at the smallholder and local community level. Forest nursery accreditation and planting stock certification is believed to be a sound strategy that can promote high quality forest tree seedling production which would eventually establish the activity as a lucrative livelihood venture especially for smallholders and local communities. The nursery accreditation and planting material certification experiences for fruit and forest trees in Leyte and Samar provide a useful basis and guide in developing and formalizing a system suitable for forest nursery accreditation and planting stock certification. The DA-BPI and DBP accreditation systems can serve as a guide in framing-up the physical standard for a viable and sustainable forest nursery business, with necessary consideration for smallholder operators. Both, however, lack the necessary technical menu and the required best management practices that are crucial in coming up with an improved nursery accreditation and planting stock certification scheme that is achievable and affordable, particularly for smallholder nursery operators.