Five CLSU interns visited Garden Nen Ines, a certified LSA showcasing Cutflower Production on March 18, 2025, to experience and expose students to the functionalities of a learning site.
As a protocol of Learning Sites for Agriculture (LSAs), Mr. Fernando R. Gonzales, owner of the garden let the interns filled-up the registration form before briefing them.
While touring the garden, he discussed briefly how the garden came into existence. Accordingly, the garden has a rich history having started by the owners in the 1980βs. The majority of the ornamental plants are anthuriums which cover the majority of the garden. There are about 60 varieties of flowering and foliage types of anthuriums. Other ornamental plants in the garden are monstera, orchids, Japanese lanterns, succulent plants, etc. A photo booth area, a wishing well, and bamboo benches where you can rest after walking around the garden were installed as mini attractions for visitors. The garden is also a DoT-accredited tourism farm. Garden Nen Ines offers affordable amenities such function hall that is perfect for all occasions and training activities. It also provides lodging facilities and a coffee shop. One of the challenges is the decline in the number of visitors, thus they are considering other enterprises to preserve and maintain the garden.
Learning Sites for Agriculture are established farms practicing applicable agricultural technologies, employing doable farming strategies & operating successfully, thus worthy of emulation. These are certified by the ATI as LSA after a thorough evaluation and acceptance of responsibility by the owners. It serves as a model or an example to showcase applicable agriculture technologies/agri-processing technologies and thereby help improve the capabilities of small farmers/other rural community members.
