BENGUET farmers are seeking to sell their produce in the summer capital’s Session Road.
Nora Ganase, president of La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post Association Inc., and Agusta Balanoy, manager of Hi-Land Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative on January 7 penned Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong stating their request to help create more demand for vegetables.
“Although, we are aware that the closure of Session Road for pedestrianization ended last December 2019, may we again knock on you and your officialdom’s generosity and allow us to sell highland vegetables for the four Sundays of January 2020,” the letter reads.
Both added the peak season for the vegetable is over, the usual problem of oversupply but low demand hit farmers anew, adding wholesale rate of highland are low that some are even below cost of production.
Ganase and Balanoy stated “Last week and this week, cabbage and wombok dipped to as low as P3 per kilogram, carrots as low as P8, broccoli to as low as P10, garden pea P25 per kilo.”
The league assured to comply with any conditions the local government will ask and are amenable for talks and discussions.
On a daily basis, Balanoy added there are more than 100 trucks entering the La Trinidad trading post.
With a rich history of more than three decades, the trading post is one of the biggest vegetable trading areas in Benguet province together with multi-million Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center providing vegetables around various key markets in the country.
In August last year, Session Road was closed to the public every Sunday to test the feasibility of pedestrianizing the road and to provide more chances to people to freely walk around the city.
Various events activities were also highlighted in Session road, one of which include cargo trucks carrying selected fruits in Mindanao shipped and displayed in the city for the first Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Fruit festival.