by Trinnah Marie M Caracho
The Center for Agro Ecological Services (CAERS) of the Ateneo Agro Ecological Forum (AAEF) hosted a whole-day hands-on training on butterfly gardening at the Crop Science Unit Field Office at the Manresa Farm of Xavier University - College of Agriculture on October 25.
“The butterfly industry is the new lucrative and environment friendly livelihood that has a massive range of potentials,” said Judith Pit, the Manresa Butterfly Garden officer-in-charge.
There are about 15 butterfly gardens as environmental attraction sites in the entire country yet the demands for public viewing, releases during several occasions and souvenir items including those for export remain high.
The participants of the said event were introduced to various techniques on how to massively produce butterflies and establish a mini-butterfly garden.
Pit stated that butterflies are extremely sensitive to environmental changes. Thus, their presence is an indicator of a healthy ecosystem. They also learned about the basic information of butterflies which include its life cycle, importance and role in landscaping, and various species and host plants.
The training also included hands-on activities where the participants experienced how to collect eggs, segregate and clean larvae, identify larvae and adult, preferred host plants and identify the various species of butterflies. Furthermore, they also toured around the Crop Science Unit laboratories and facilities.
In culmination, the participants made a butterfly garden establishment plan per cluster and presented it to the bigger group. The participants were high school students, teachers, cooperative members and veteran landscapers.
The event was spearheaded by Pit with the resource speaker, Floro Dalapag, head of CAERS. The Agricultural Sciences Department chairperson Veneranda Larroza and AAEF director Dr Ma. Theresa Rivera also attended the event.
The Crop Science Unit expressed their commitment to further assist the participants in the realization of their presented plans with an emphasis on the importance of collaboration and sharing of knowledge.