By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
Piddig, Ilocos Norte—The small farming Brgy. Maruaya here is
developing itself as the first flower capital in Ilocos region with thousands
of sunflowers and other edible flowering plants and lowland vegetables ready to
wow visitors.
Located about 22 kilometers,
or less than an hour drive from Laoag City, the Piddig Organic Farmer’s
Association established the huge flower farm in time for its grand opening on
February 14, 2019.
Inspired by various
world-class attractions being frequented by tourists here and abroad, the
Piddig flower farm features picturesque landscape of sunflower maze,
bougainvillea, blue ternatea, roses and assorted
vegetables.
According to former Piddig Mayor
Eduardo “Eddie” Guillen, who serves as adviser of the farmer’s organization
here, he said local farmers here are shaping their agricultural town into an
agri-tourism destination where visitors can relax, learn and take advantage of
their organic products.
With an entrance fee that
ranges from PHP100-PHP50, Mr. Guillen said visitors can roam freely at the farm
and enjoy its gorgeous amenities.
For a Piddig native like
Jennifer Lacuata, she said “It’s always a breath of fresh air” to see her
hometown being developed and try something new or out of the box.
She recalled going to Maruaya
with so many barren lands, if not planted with a small parcel of tobacco, rice
or just a pasture land as water is scarce especially during the dry season.
But with the initiative of
the local government unit of Piddig, local farmers were introduced to
diversified crops farming and vermicomposting.
As host to the first ever
national convergence project for coffee, Piddig is leading the way in
empowering its farmers to be on the fore front of agro-tourism development.
Aside from the flower farm
being developed in Maruaya, the Piddig government has also initiated the
development of a 500-hectare coffee plantation in this northern gateway of
Luzon seated on a highland area with 1,200-meter elevation at Sitio Lammin in
Brgy. Dupitac.
To date, some locals who used
to have unstable livelihood are actively engaged in maintaining coffee and
other indigenous tree nurseries while other farmers are into production of
vermicast, organic rice, tobacco, fruits and vegetables and recently, the
flower garden of Piddig.
Mr. Guillen said it entails a
lot of hard work and perseverance to encourage farmers to deviate from the old
norm.
“They have been used to it [traditional
farming] and when you introduce something new to them, they won’t believe you
until they see it for themselves what it is like,” said Mr. Guillen as he
expressed gratitude for having a government that clearly understands the needs
of its people and it is now being felt at the grassroots.
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