DENR: Marapait ideal for Baguio’s terrain

BAGUIO’S revered sunflower locally called Marapait may be the answer to the city’s reforestation efforts.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last week said the sunflower, among many varieties of plants to be planted on hillsides, are ideal for the region’s terrain.

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“[The] sunflower is good for our reforestation as well for the beautification of our surroundings,” DENR forestry and management bureau head Augusto Lagon said.

Lagon added the sunflower is not only good in preventing soil erosion but also for any community’s citizens.

“The sunflower also has medicinal use. It is also used in making cigarettes, which would help smokers quit their addiction to nicotine,” Lagon said.

The DENR, however, advised planters of sunflowers to start planting them through cuttings rather than seeds because it may take seed planters at least three to four years to see the plant grow.

Aside from the sunflower, DENR Regional Executive Director Clarence Baguilat said Chinese bamboo is also ideal for the reforestation of the region’s already thinning forests.

“[But] we have to choose the variety of bamboo we plant because heavy foliage bamboos are also not advisable for planting in the region,” Baguilat said. (JM Agreda)