Keeping the nation healthy with Cordillera table greens

AGGIE UPDATE

Robert Domoguen

On a daily basis, an average of 700 tons of vegetables are transported from the Benguet La Trinidad Trading Post to various parts of Luzon, Visayas and even Mindanao, according to Mr. Benito Hipolito, President of the Benguet Vegetable Truckers Association (BVTA).

The Association, with over 40 members, transports highland vegetables, mainly to destinations in regions 01,03,04,05 and Metro Manila. From these main destinations, the vegetables are transported to the Visayas and Mindanao through their direct contacts, according to Hipolito.

Patricio Ananayo, chief of the DA’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) said some forty trucks with an average load of 15 tons of different vegetable varieties leave for Metro Manila markets daily. The rest find their way to urban markets in the country. Ananayo and his division help monitor the supply of vegetables from the Cordillera and coordinate the Food Lane Program of the government that ensures an orderly delivery of food products from their source to the nation’s urban markets.

The vegetable products coming from the La Trinidad Trading Post include cabbage, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, mustard, leeks, celery, potatoes, carrots, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, chayote, cucumber, bell pepper, snap beans, sweet peas, and tomatoe. Not included in the list are products like strawberry, and herbs that are transported through reefer trucks. About 65 percent of the production of highland vegetables comes from Benguet Province. The rest are contributed by Mountain Province, Ifugao, and nearby highland areas in Nueva Vizcaya and La Union.

The DA has been supporting the local government units of Benguet to improve the production, delivery, and marketing of vegetables. Right now, the bidding of a modernized Agri-Pinoy Marketing Center in La Trinidad is in progress.

Meanwhile, The DA-RFU-CAR and BomboRadyo Philippines shall be airing a daily wholesale buying price of vegetables from the highlands as part of their assistance to producers, traders, and professors, and other individuals like laborers and other decision-makers in the value chain make the right daily decisions that contribute to the thrust of making the nation health.