Skip to main content

DA urges vegetable farmers to undergo good farming practices training

By
By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter

Laoag City—Before vegetable farmers in this northern part of Luzon can export their harvest, importing countries need to be assured that these products comply with quality standards.

This is why the Department of Agriculture and Vegetable Importers, Exporters and Vendors Association (VIEVA) of the Philippines are urging farmers here to undergo training on good farming practices (GAP) for them to know how to properly take care of their plants from planting, harvesting to packaging their products to be ready for market export.

In a farmers’ forum held at the provincial Capitol session hall on March 17, Ma. Christine de Leon, representative from the DA regional field office based in La Union, told farmers a certification on GAP is being required by importing countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries to ensure product quality standards.

Once farmers undergo GAP training and acquire certification through accredited exporters like VIEVA, the DA said there is a great opportunity for Ilocos farmers to compete in the global market.

As onion and garlic growers here experience the peak of harvest season this month, several farmers here could hardly find good buyers as the on-going farm gate price is low. Based on the latest survey, farm gate price is pegged at P40-80/kilo for garlic and P8-10/kilo for shallots.

With the existing high supply of these vegetable crops, Nestor Casela of the Vegetable Exporters and Importers Association said they are trying to buy all the farmers’ produce and ensure that both traders and farmers share equal profit.

Earlier, several Ilocos farmers associations through the Ilocos Norte government entered a memorandum of agreement with VIEVA to ensure technology production and marketing assistance to farmers.

Importing countries such as Indonesia however imposed stringent sanitary and phytosanitary measures that most of Ilocos farmers have yet to comply with.


So far, the DA has granted GAP accreditation to five exporters. These exporters included Agro Trends, JM’s Marketing, Lit’s Marketing, Sparkle and VIEVA Philippines Inc.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By
By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become...
14 comments
Read more

2020 Laoag City Traffic Code

By
  Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Norte CITY OF LAOAG   SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD   EXCERPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 58 TH REGULAR SESSION OF THE 11 TH SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD OF LAOAG HELD AT THE SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD SESSION HALL, LAOAG CITY ON OCTOBER 14, 2020. PRESENT: 1.        Hon. Vicentito M. Lazo                                                 City Vice-Mayor/Presiding Officer Hon. Juan Conrado A. Respicio II                                              S.P....
44 comments
Read more

Marcos town celebrates 3rd Pinakbet Festival

By
MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—Taking pride of this town ’s favorite Ilo cano dish, locally known as pinakbet, a mix of indigenous vegetables steamed in fish sauce, residents here ushered the opening of the third Pinakbet festival. “Pinakbet” came from the contracted Ilokano word ‘pinakebbet ’ which means “ shrunk ” or “shriveled.” As a way of thanksgiving, the Pinakbet festival is a repository of the town ’ s “ani” [harvest] festival being celebrated every month of March but this was later moved to December to accommodate more balikbayans wanting to join the festivity. Residents in this agricultural town derived most of their income from the harvest of high value crops, including rice, tobacco and corn as staple crops. This year, the week-long festivity highlighted a grand parade around the town plaza and a pinakbet cook fest at the municipal gymnasium to showcase the best pinakbet in town. A boodle fight followed suit. Earlier, a fun run was participated by various groups ...
5 comments
Read more