By Richa Noriega The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Cagayan provincial government are set to produce two million vegetable seedlings this year to provide nutritious food to communities reeling from the impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In a statement on May 8, the Cagayan Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Ismael Manaligod said the DENR’s five-hectare modernized and mechanized forest nursery (MMFN) in Solana town has been used for raising vegetable seedlings with the aid of the provincial government. “Some 30,000 seedlings have been raised so far since the effort started last April 23, with the Cagayan Provincial Agriculture Office providing all inputs and technical assistance,” Manaligod said. Among the seedlings being produced are squash, eggplant, gourd (upo), and finger chili (siling haba). He added that the provincial government provides for the seeds, soil media, and fertilizers, as well as the training of the nursery laborers which majority of them are DENR employees. The vegetable seedlings will be delivered to beneficiary-communities that were identified by the provincial government. Manaligod underscored that the nursery facility will also continue to produce forest tree seedlings to meet its target of one million seedlings for 2020. In 2014, the department built 16 MMFNs or one in every region under the National Greening Program, the government’s flagship reforestation initiative. It added that the MMFNs have a combined capacity of one million forest tree seedlings per day.