LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Office of Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap will be making a weekly purchase of highland vegetables that could be distributed as part of the relief assistance either in the province or other parts of the country that need the supply for distribution to the vulnerable and marginalized sectors that have been heavily impacted by the extended implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine to fight the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Kevin Edward See, Chief of Staff of Congressman Yap, said that the lawmaker was able to device a mechanism to ensure that the delivery of relief assistance by his office to the province will be a two-way approach where apart from bringing he needed assistance to the beneficiaries, he will also ensure that vegetable farmers will be able to market their produce by buying the same for his relief assistance in other parts of Luzon affected by the quarantine.
Initially, the lawmaker’s aide disclosed that Congressman Yap already purchased more or less 8 tons of assorted vegetables from farmers at the prevailing wholesale buying prices to ensure that there will be available alternative market for the farmers while the demand for vegetables is still low because of the closure of establishments requiring the said supply.
Yap’s Chief of Staff claimed that he will be inquiring from the municipal mayors on whether or not their localities will still need the vegetables that will be purchased weekly so that the same could be eventually distributed as part of the lawmaker’s relief assistance to other areas that had been affected by the extended Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine
He pointed out that Congressman Yap understands the predicament of the farmers who have been affected by the Luzon quarantine because the demand for agricultural crops significantly dropped as most of the food establishments that usually place orders for their supply have temporarily closed as part of the guidelines imposed by the inter-agency task force on the management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases to prevent the convergence of people that could serve as a vehicle for the spread of the contagious virus.
According to him, farmers will surely benefit from the weekly purchase of vegetables by the Benguet Caretaker because the purchase price of the agricultural produce will be based on the prevailing wholesale buying prices of the said produce at the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) to ensure that they will not be at the losing end of the deal.
See disclosed that the purchase of vegetables that will be done will be on a weekly basis which will be part of the support of congressman yap to the farmers who play a key role in sustaining the food security of the country event the height of the extended enhanced community quarantine.
Benguet, some parts of Mountain Province and Ifugao remain as the source of over 80 percent of the supply of semi-temperate vegetables that is being circulated in the different parts of the country where the local vegetable industry provides sustainable source of livelihood for around 250,000 individuals that are distributed in the 13 municipalities of Benguet and several vegetable-producing towns of the upland areas of Mountain Province and Ifugao.
By DEXTER A. SEE