Yamang Bukid Farm in Palawan bags environmental award from JCI

Tourism Department's newly accredited agro-forestry  tourist destination in Palawan—the Yamang Bukid Farm—received the prestigious "Makakalikasan" award from the Junior Chamber International (JCI) during the observance of the Earth Hour last March 30, 2019.

A Facebook post of the Yamang Bukid Farm said that four of its farmers received the award in behalf of the farm.

JCI-Puerto Princesa Oil handed the award to Sonny Apdon, Antonio Pajaron, Noli Trinidad and Ronnel Espino for their exemplary skills and practices in farming at the Yamang Bukid Farm.

The four are among the 130 former illegal loggers who turned their backs on logging and choosing to work at the YB farm.

Some 130 of the 150 YB Farm’s farmers used to be illegal loggers, and each one of them cuts three fully-grown trees daily. This translates to 146,552 trees being saved yearly due to the employment opportunity the farm has given them.

At Yamang Bukid, farmers plant herbs, vegetables, fruit trees, ornamental flowers, and endemic tree species to restore and preserve the Barangay Bacungan ecosystem.

The farm has now become a habitat for endemic species and a home to farmers from the barangay who find a family at the YB farm.  —LBG, GMA News