MAMBAJAO, Camiguin - The local government unit of Mambajao town and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) launched here Monday a butterfly garden as part of its "Ardent Papillon Project," located inside the Ardent Spring Resort here.
The project is built through a funding worth P240,000 from the DENR through its allocation from the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAid) while another P200,000 would be added by the agency, to be sourced out from the government of the Philippines (GOP) fund.
The local government unit of Mambajao would shoulder the manpower and labor needs of the project as its counterpart.
Taking advantage of its mini-forest ambiance, the new butterfly garden rests inside a one-hectare property of the resort.
Aside from butterfly, the new garden would also be filled with botanical plants as well.
According to DENR, the project will help promote biodiversity conservation and eco-tourism in Camiguin.
Stakeholders are also looking into possibilities of putting up butterfly exhibits and marketing live ones for weddings to draw more foreign and domestic visitors at the same time provide alternative source of income for the community.
Butterfly farming is very different from the traditional farming methods because it is heavily dependent on the vegetation; they have to grow native plant species in and around the lepiary to serve as food for the larvae. (PIA)