Boosting Agricultural Development in Benguet
Benguet is not only a tourist spot. With its humid temperature and mountainous location, it is also an ideal place for growing flowers and vegetables. Its governor; Nestor B. Fongwan, has always kept this in mind that’s why he sees to it that his administration underscores the improvement of agriculture for this is still the main source of livelihood in the province.
“The economy of Benguet is anchored to agriculture. Although the province has also wealth in mining, agriculture presents more opportunities to people,” Gov. Fongwan said.
On the average, around one million kilograms of vegetables are traded everyday and 5,000 people benefit from the trading. “That is why when agriculture collapses, the economy [also goes down],” he adds.
Gov. Fongwan also believes that conforming to the emerging market trends is necessary to succeed in agribusiness. “We need to improve the production style. We need to conform to the trend and satisfy the needs of the market because we cannot dictate the market, market dictates us,” the former mayor of La Trinidad said.
To improve the production style and conform to the trends, the local government of Benguet helps farmers in terms of production, especially right now in a time of globalization when illegal importation of commodities happens.
Gov. Fongwan recounts that in 2001, there was a shortage of commodities supplied in Metro Manila due to the temporary closure of the Halsema road, the main road that links La Trinidad to the northern part of Benguet.
The shortage, however, prompted the local traders to import commodities which eventually led to smuggling.
“We thought that when the Halsema highway opens again, the illegal importation would stop but it still continued,” he recounts. Worse, illegal importation also lessened the marketability of agricultural products of Benguet.
The local government officials of Benguet disclosed the problem to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and she asked what help can the palace give to the province. Gov. Fongwan suggested that perhaps they could help the farmers in adding value to their produce by assisting them in production and marketing. He ‘also recognized the need to enter the high-end market because it is penetrated by importation, and this was how the cold chain system came up.
A continuous refrigerated handling operation, the cold chain system maintains the freshness and quality of high value commodities from production area to the market and helps farmers meet the demand of the market for a year-round supply of fresh, quality vegetables.
“We explained to the President the cold chain system and how it will help us and she provided us with funds to start the operation. Then she asked the Department of Agriculture to assist us [because] we don’t know how to implement the cold chain system. Then through DA, the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) [helped us implement the system],” Gov. Fongwan said.
As part of the assistance from BPRE, the first cold storage, reefer trucks, and reefer vans were set up. Even now, Gov. Fongwan said, the BPRE is still help ing the province. Moreover, Benguet’s minimal processing and packaging facility, which are also part of the cold chain system, will operate soon.
But even if Benguet has potentials in agribusiness, Gov. Fongwan said the folk still do not know what to produce and in what part of the year they should increase the production, and hence, there is no balance between production and demand.
The solution that he has in mind is profiling the vegetables. “We need to know [what commodities each area is producing], how many times these are produced in a year, and how many people benefit from these,” he explained. “We need to know the demands so that the production won’t go beyond what is needed in the market.”
After profiling the vegetables, he said they will launch a crop production program to sustain the demand for vegetables. In this way, they will be able to meet the local demand for vegetables and eventually stop the traders from importing vegetables.
