If plans do not miscarry, a butterfly garden – Dagupan’s first – will be built right in the heart of the city’s business district.

This was disclosed by Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez during a luncheon meeting with Barangay Captain Teody Macasieb of Barangay IV, where the butterfly garden will be put up as part of the barangay’s material recovery facility (MRF).

“Why not?” Fernandez said, adding that the butterfly garden will not only serve as an added city attraction but as another source of income for the barangay.

Barangay IV is located in the city’s downtown area and within its jurisdiction are several big business establishments.

“Butterflies are now used for weddings and other occasions and the butterfly business has prospered in Metro Manila,” Fernandez added.

He said he has already coordinated with officials of the Department of Agriculture regional office in San Fernando City to help start the project.

The idea of building a butterfly garden was hatched when Fernandez visited Barangay IV’s MRF during its inauguration last week.

The MRF, which was creatively erected on a paved narrow alley right at the back of the University of Luzon, boasts of a greenhouse where organically grown ornamental and vegetable plants are on display and ready for transplanting in nearby plots.

“This is a pilot project and we are grateful to the DA for providing the seedlings and for teaching our people the proper care of the plants,” Fernandez said.

A component of the project, he added that, is the planting of dwarf papaya on plastic drums along the streets of the barangay “for the residents to enjoy.”

“This is the sinta papaya, a dwarf variety that has giant fruits covering its whole trunk,” Fernandez said.

Barangay IV’s MRF is one of the nine MRF’s that the city government has recently inaugurated and turned over to the barangays.

Despite its very recent operation, it has already been receiving visitors from other places, the latest of which were the Sangguniang Bayan members of Pugo, La Union.