ONE STAGE. Sorting, packaging, and packing, as shown in this January 2024 photo at the Benguet Agripinoy Trading Center in La Trinidad, Benguet, is one of the stages that the temperate vegetables go through before they reach the dinner table of consumers. The vegetable industry in the Cordillera Administrative Region is highly lucrative, with millions of pesos being circulated daily through trade. (PNA file photo by Liza T. Agoot)
BAGUIO CITY – Have you ever wondered what the colorful, beautiful-looking, and nutritious vegetables in your favorite “chop suey” or “pancit” go through before reaching the dinner table?
With it, goes tons of “labor of love” that farmers and “kumbaya” (persons manually carrying heavy cargo) exert to ensure that these vegetables reach the consumers' dinner table.
Segunda Agmayo, also called “Manang Lorna,” 47, grew up on vegetable farms in Loo, Buguias, Benguet, with her parents, who were originally vegetable farmers.
She explained that the life of a farmer requires hard work and is full of uncertainties, as there were times when she lost the money and labor she had invested in the farm.
More often than not, however, she earned a good income and chose to continue farming.
Manang Lorna and her husband, assisted by their children, till a total land area of 3,800 square meters.
Growing up on a farm, helping her parents on weekends and vacations, the then-young Segunda decided to dedicate her life to farming and follow in their footsteps.
Sharing her daily routine, she said she wakes up to have hot coffee as early as 4 a.m. and before sunrise, proceeds to the garden where she grows cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.
“Before, we had to carry pails of water, but when the sprinkler was introduced, the task became easier,” she said in Ilocano.
During harvest, farmers hire workers to ensure fast harvesting and carry their loaded "kaing" (big bamboo woven baskets) to the roadside. They also hire “kumboy” for this purpose.
After being harvested, the vegetables are transported to a trading post where they undergo a bidding process, washing, repacking, and loading into trucks. They are then taken to trading markets in Metro Manila and eventually sold in retail stalls, reaching the end-users' kitchens and finally the dining tables.
She noted that Igorots are industrious people, whenever they see soil, they also see opportunities.
“We use our hands to survive, till the soil, which presents a prospect for a better day,” Manang Lorna said.
She described their job as “suntok sa buwan" literally means a punch at the moon, a Filipino saying that means unattainable or impossible. She even compared it to gambling since farming is without any assurance of winning or losing because of the many factors that could affect production.
"Despite this, we continue because this is what we do for a living, even if there are times when we lose,” Manang Lorna said.
Challenges in vegetable farming
The Cordillera Region is mountainous, so crop damage due to landslides or excessive rain is a reality, aside from the oversupply as a result of non-crop rotation among farmers.
In such a situation, she said they are thankful to the government for supporting them in their quest for food production.
“The government gives assistance no matter how small, and it appeases us because nobody wanted us to lose, but fate and nature dictate our situation, and they are with us,” she said.
Benguet Board Member Neftali Camsol, who manages his family's farm business, said that farming is a complex industry without assurance of winning or losing.
“We will continue to grow vegetables because this has been our source of income. We make do with what nature brings, and we are thankful that while we sometimes lose, there are also times when we earn more,” he said.
Jocelyn Beray, acting head of the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), said 80 percent of the semi-temperate vegetables used in the country are produced in the region.
Major temperate vegetables are root crops such as potatoes, turnips, parsnips, and carrots. Cabbages are also commonly grown in CAR.
“Our vegetable industry is a multi-billion pesos industry. Every day, millions of pesos are moving as millions of kilograms of assorted vegetables are traded,” Beray said.
As an example, she cited the DA-AMAD's recent monitoring data from the Benguet Agripinoy Trading Center in La Trinidad, Benguet, showing that the total number of assorted vegetables traded for the day was 2,338 metric tons on April 23 and 2,305 metric tons on April 30.
With prices varying depending on the commodity type, variety, size, and quality, a PHP20-a-kilo item would add up to PHP46.7 million on April 23 and PHP46.1 million on April 30.
Aida Pagtan, a social mobilizer and head of the Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Information Service, said that for years, the government has been encouraging farmers to form cooperatives and consolidate their goods to achieve crop rotation and crop scheduling.
“We are going there. There are already cooperatives that are seeing the benefits and reaping the gains. We hope that others will follow the example of those who have formed associations and cooperatives,” she said. (PNA)
