Another Basilan greenhouse up

COTABATO CITY --- The provincial government of Basilan is setting up another large greenhouse for vegetables and other short-term crops in support of its food sufficiency program.

The office of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said in a statement Wednesday that their second greenhouse project is located in Barangay Taberlongan in Maluso town.

The Salliman administration is also presently setting up a multi-million ice plant and cold storage facility in Maluso, one of the fishing hubs in the island Basilan province.

The Maluso greenhouse shall use a drip irrigation system to ensure propagation of crops throughout the year.

The office of the Basilan provincial agriculturist is helping oversee the project, also supported by Maluso Mayor Hanie Bud.

The first greenhouse of the provincial government was built on a strategic patch of land in Isabela City.

The Basilan governor’s office said its first greenhouse project, also equipped with a drip irrigation system, is now producing vegetables that were only made available in the province in decades past by suppliers from the Zamboanga peninsula.

The Basilan provincial government embarked on its greenhouse ventures partly as a showcase of vegetable farming as an alternative for local farmers whose coconut farms were destroyed by “cocolisap” infestation.