‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ mulled in Trinidad Valley

By Susan C. Aro

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet --  A “Strawberry Fields Forever,” as a Beatles song goes, is being mulled in this capital town considering the daily influx of tourists just to see the luscious strawberries in Strawberry  farm in the  swamp area in Barangay Betag.

With fast pace of development, Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan is batting for preservation of the 40-hectare strawberry farmlands  in the valley  located  in a Benguet State University property.

However, maintaining the farmland will only be made possible through  amendment of the BSU Charter, he said.

Cosalan  recently met with BSU president Feliciano Calora Jr  to discuss  possibility of amending the institution’s charter which includes preservation of said area.

Cosalan said the  town was once called the “Salad Bowl of the Philippines” as the valley used to have massive farms of highland vegetables but lost its identity when structures were erected in  the gardens and have mushroomed through the years.

He said the strawberry fields should be maintained such that no structure would be  erected   in the area for future generations to behold. Otherwise it may lose its identity as the “Strawberry Capital of the Philippines.”

The Strawberry farm  is one of the municipality’s agro-tourism vistas attracting  lots of tourists who go for strawberry picking and buy other by-products and other goods any time of the year.

The strawberry  is the One-Town-One-Product of the municipality.

Meanwhile,  Gov. Crescencio Pacalso said  La Trinidad’s Strawberry Festival  held every March  is an occasion for tourists to know that strawberries including cutflowers and other vegetables are produced here and not in Baguio, a distance of 6 km.