by Lito Dar

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, March 31 – Governor Nestor Fongwan strongly advocates for organic farming in the vegetable producing province of Benguet even as he tries to expand the La Trinidad Organic Producers (LATOP) to encourage other vegetable farmers to go organic.

According to Fongwan, the use of organic fertilizers is becoming a must for some vegetable farmers in the province as their continuous use of commercial fertilizers already has a wear and tear effect on the production of vegetables in their farmlands.


“Some farmers are being forced to use organic fertilizers as the soils has now become less productive due to the high acidity brought about by the continuous use of commercial fertilizers on their vegetable farms,” Fongwan said.

The governor also affirmed that the provincial government has already hired experts to conduct soils studies in the different parts of the province; the results to come out soon.

“Lalabas na iyung result ng soil studies and what we plan next is to conduct soil training, maybe through a team that would conduct a mobile clinic. From the said soil study, malalaman namin kung saan iyung highly acidic na mga farm soils na dapat tigilan ang paggamit ng commercial fertilizer at dapat mag-umpisa ng paggamit ng compost fertilizer,” Fongwan said.

Fongwan also disclosed that if not for the damages wrought by Typhoon Pepeng in the province in 2009, Benguet should already have a composting facility along Halsema Highway. He added that they would have to start all over again for the plan and process of putting up a composting facility for the province.

Fongwan,though, said that there are some other problems or concerns that they need to address in pushing for organic farming in the province and these include linkages to the market and the need for private entities that would certify their organically produced vegetables.

To further improve the vegetable industry of Benguet, Fongwan also affirmed that they are in the process of establishing a Farmers Marketing Cooperative so that the farmers themselves would be on top of the situation regarding the supply and demand side of vegetable production. They should know the needs in the market, and plan or program their production based on the market needs so as to avoid overproduction that leads to a steep drop on the selling price of certain highland vegetables.

Meanwhile, Fongwan affirmed that so far, there is no report yet of smuggled vegetables coming in but they are continuously monitoring such concern. The entry of smuggled vegetables is one of the problems of the vegetable industry of Benguet,*(PIA CAR)