SAGADA, Mountain Province – Coinciding with the 10th staging of the Etag festival in Sagada, the Department of Agriculture- Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) will continue to support the Municipality in the production of Etag and other agriculture-related programs of Sagada.
In her message during the opening ceremonies of the festival, DA-CAR Regional Technical Director (RTD) for Research and Regulations Atty. Jennilyn Dawayan explained that aside from supporting the Municipality in the production of Etag, various government programs on agriculture have been implemented in the municipality.
“We have always supported various programs of the municipality particularly on the swine raising projects aside from the conduct of School-On the-Air program on swine, the Kadiwa projects, aside from a barangay in Sagada that was vigilant on the African Swine Fever that makes us proud that the community takes it upon them to take care of one another through simple messages of bio-security efforts,” Dawayan said.
To help entice tourists to spend their vacation in the municipality to experience its cool weather and scenic destinations, previous leaders conceptualized the Etag Festival in line with the celebration of the annual town fiesta.
Etag is the Igorot’s traditional way to preserve dried and salted pork that can last for weeks or months when sun-dried. Locals believe that by using wood to smoke Etag, this brings more aromatic flavor to the meat.
“The celebration of the Etag Festival is more than ourselves, but represents ourselves, the gift of belonging to the community and connectivity with our roots and homecoming. And like Etag, it is beyond pork meat because the preservation method that has been passed through generations represents the rich culture and tradition that we have,” the regional technical director stated.
Dawayan also reminded the Department of Tourism-Cordillera to continue to advocate sustainable tourism and sustainable agriculture in its programs.
