Highland farmers to benefit from SM proj

By Dexter A. See

ATOK, Benguet— Thousands of vegetable farmers may soon be supplying the vegetable requirements of the largest shopping mall in the country and gain access to the high end market and make the local agriculture industry sustainable.

Atok Vice Mayor Marson Lay-at said a project of SM Foundation in their municipality will help farmers gain knowledge in farming and have an alternative market for their produce which are often bought by middlemen from the vegetable trading posts and sold at skyrocketing prices in Metro Manila and other lowland markets.

Last month, SM Foundation with Harbest Agribusiness Corporation launched the Farmer’s Training Program in Atok which provides farmers with the technology to produce fruits and vegetables ready for commercial sale.

The project assists farmers by teaching them how to produce high- value commercial Benguet vegetables through the use of modern technology in vegetable production through SM Foundation so quality fruits and vegetables could be produced which in turn will command a higher price in the lowland markets that will translate to better income for the thousands of vegetable farmers in the different vegetable-producing areas.

By June this year, the farmers are expected to have an output of what they have learned from the program.

They are expected to conduct a harvest festival that will feature their own produce. Among the vegetables are lettuce, beans, potatoes, and cabbage.

Lay-at said that they were assured that if the program would be successful, the products of the farmers here will have a chance to land in SM supermarkets.

At the moment, highland vegetables being produced in the municipality are delivered to the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post before transported to the different markets outside the Cordillera region such as the markets in the National Capital Region and the rest of the country.