LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Rep. Eric Yap wants the capital town to be declared as the country’s Strawberry Capital in recognition of its current stature as the major producer of strawberry.
The lawmaker authored House Bill (HB) 10155 that declared that it shall be a policy of the State to aggressively promote and fully support the strawberry industry in the country and ensure competitiveness in both domestic and foreign markets.
Further, the State shall recognize the importance of sustaining and enhancing strawberry production as a driver of economic development because strawberry self-sufficiency can tremendously increase the country’s export earnings and provide livelihood to the thousands of strawberry farmers relying on strawberry production as their main source of income.
At present, La Trinidad has around 1,120 farmers who rely on strawberry production as the major sources of their income while there are some 39 hectares of strawberry plantation sites mostly within the landholdings of the State-run Benguet State University (BSU) right at the heart of the valley.
In 2004, La Trinidad was installed in the Guinness Book of World Records after it produced and presented to the public the Largest Strawberry Shortcake.
Last week, the municipality in partnership with concerned stakeholders presented to the public some 12,000 strawberry cupcakes which served as one of the major highlights of this year’s Strawberry festival that drew the interests of residents and tourists alike.
Yap expressed hope that the town will be able to maintain its stature as the major producer of strawberry and for the concerned stakeholders to adopt appropriate technology that will boost the production of the famous fruit to sustain the supply of strawberry which had placed the municipality in the map of premier tourist destinations in the country.
Currently, the municipal government is advocating the mass production of the Snow-White variety of strawberry in addition to the traditional Sweet Charlie variety to help in sustaining the available supply of strawberry that is being patronized by both residents and tourists that frequent the locality.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda welcomed the filing of the bill that seeks to declare the municipality as the country’s Strawberry Capital as it will definitely contribute in bolstering the production of strawberries to sustain supply that will make the berry readily available to consumers.
He expressed hope that Congress will pass the bill the soonest to help in compelling concerned government agencies and other industry stakeholders in getting their acts together and formulate the appropriate comprehensive plan on how to advance the production of strawberry that will stabilize the supply inside and outside the municipality for the interest of the farmers and other producers of strawberry by-products to make these available for the consumers.
The municipal chief executive claimed that the local government fully supports the filing of the bill and will provide additional details that will help convince lawmakers in passing the said piece of legislation that will enhance the strawberry production in the municipality. By Dexter A. See