GOVERNOR Cresencio Pacalso said there is no need to close the vegetable trading post in La Trinidad.
However, Pacalso said the local government needs to specify the products to be sold at the trading post once the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trade Center (BAPTC) is already fully operational.
"They can retain what is La Trinidad well known for. Strawberries or flowers and maybe other items too," he said.
Pacalso is also urging all stakeholders of BAPTC to cooperate and be involved in the operation of the vegetable trading facility.
"We are waiting for everyone's cooperation especially that stakeholders are used to transact at the trading post,” added the governor.
In more than two decades, vegetables are sold each day at the trading post, which was built to give farmers a better market price without middlemen.
Benguet and neighboring Mt. Province farms supply the daily vegetables, cut flowers and strawberry requirements for the lowland areas.
BAPTC started its experimental trading Dec. 15 last year which is an expansion of the trading post and not a competition.
The trading facility has 82 trading lanes and two consolidation lines and when it becomes fully functional, it can help up to 147,000 farmers who can regularly supply vegetables.
Mayor Romeo Salda earlier issued an administrative order requesting traders to transfer to BAPTC.
Salda earlier told Sun.Star Baguio the Technical Working Group and the adhoc committee crafted a resolution give him authority to issue a memorandum for stakeholders to go to BAPTC while drafting the memorandum of agreement on its management with the Benguet State University.