LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Farmers in the municipality urged the agriculture department and the local government unit to work out the availability of planting materials of new strawberry varieties to improve the production of the fruit and ensure steady supply.
The sentiment of the farmers was contained in a resolution that was unanimously approved by the members of the council who served as Farmer Officials for a Day (FOFAD) which is part of the town’s activities of the annual Farmer and Fisherfolk month this May.
La Trinidad, the capital town of Benguet, is the major producer of the famous strawberries although there are already some areas in the province that are also producing the said fruit, particularly in Paoay, Atok; Madaymen, Kibungan; Cada, Balili, Mankayan and Cada, Bauko, Mountain Province.
The farmers proposed to the agriculture department and the local government the Camarosa, Sweet Sensation and white strawberry varieties that will surely contribute in producing quality strawberries that will entice domestic and foreign visitors to patronize the purchase of the fruit when visiting the municipality.
According to the farmers, the current strawberry ferities where the planting materials are being derived are already old and that there is a need to embrace the use of other quality varieties that will contribute in further elevating the town’s strawberry production to a higher level considering the availability of quality planting materials.
Earlier, the municipal government institutionalized the celebration of the Farmers and Fisherfolk month every May and that one of the activities that had been lined up is the Farmer Officials for A Day to allow the members of the town’s agriculture sector to craft and formulate their recommendations on how to improve the current state of agriculture in the municipality.
For the past several years, the local government has been trying to work out the importation of new strawberry varieties to be able to produce better planting materials that will help farmers come out with quality strawberries for the rapidly increasing market.
The farmers stated that the availability of more strawberry varieties will allow them to be able to select from the ones that are available for their needs to pave the way for the sufficient supply of strawberries in the market, especially during the early months of the year when the said fruit is in season coupled with the influx of visitors wanting to purchase strawberries for their personal needs.
At present, many of the strawberry farmers are using the Sweet Charlie variety in producing the fruit which had been the same variety that had been used over the past several decades.
Tissue culture is one of the ways in producing quality planting materials of the said strawberry variety to ensure the steady supply of the materials that will be needed by the farmers to ensure the stable supply of the fruit in the local markets.
The municipality was able to prepare and serve to the residents and visitors alike the Largest Strawberry Short Cake way back in 2004 that paved the way for La Trinidad to be enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records of having prepared and served the said kind of cake allowing the influx of people to the locality year on year. By Dexter A. See
