LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The number of local government units (LGUs) outside the province purchasing vegetables from Benguet and Cordillera farmers continues to increase following the appeal of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) Benguet chapter for support by providing alternative markets for the agricultural produce of city vegetable farmers.
Boardmember Nestor B. Fongwan, Jr. said the latest local government to purchase assorted vegetables from farmers is the PCL Olongapo City chapter led by Councilor Lugie Garcia whose group bought some 10 tons of vegetables from Benguet and Cordillera farmers.
He added that coordination is continuously being done by the PCL Benguet chapter with its counterparts in other parts of Luzon for them to purchase assorted vegetables from the province to included in the relief assistance to their constituents.
Fongwan claimed local officials have been inspired by the established farmers movement in the province which had been pushing for all-out support to vegetable farmers heavily impacted by the quarantine because the demand for highland vegetables significantly dropped with the stoppage of the operation of food establishments.
The son of the late Rep. Nestor B. Fongwan, Sr. disclosed that his office purchased more than 70 tons of assorted vegetables from Benguet and Cordillera farmers that were distributed for free to different barangays in Baguio City and Benguet with about 12 tons given out to the residents living within the communities surrounding the Philex Mining Corporation and within the mine camp.
Earlier, the PCL Tarlac chapter through boardmember Kristine Legaspi came to the province recently to purchase some 5 tons of assorted vegetables from the farmers for their constituents as part of the relief assistance.
The PCL Benguet chapter president underscored that local vegetable farmers need the support of the people during this crisis as their institutional buyers had been heavily impacted by the ECQ as most of the food establishments and the high-end hotels and restaurants have stopped their operations causing a tremendous decline in the demand for highland vegetables.
Fongwan expressed his gratitude to his counterparts in other parts of Luzon and other government and non-government institutions that continue to provide vegetable farmers with alternative markets where they can sell their produce at reasonable prices that will allow them to partially recover their costs and again produce the next cropping season.
Benguet and some parts of Mountain Province and Ifugao provide over 80 percent of the supply of highland vegetables sold in the different parts of the country making vegetable production the major source of income of residents in most of these areas.
By Hent