Residents and visitors in La Trinidad town, Benguet province, are treated to a giant vegetable salad during the Highland Vegetable Industry Week. (Photo by Kimberlie Quitasol)
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—After a two-year break, farmers and officials in this town on Friday, August 5, staged another edition of the Highland Vegetable Industry Week, serving a giant salad of 400 kilos of vegetables.
The event celebrates the town’s stable vegetable production despite the challenges that the agriculture sector face, said Nida Organo, municipal agriculture officer.
Vegetable farming is the main source of livelihood for residents. The town is among the areas in the Cordillera that supply salad vegetables, such as carrots, beans, cabbages, lettuce, and cauliflower, to Metro Manila and other provinces.
Organo said holding the event, now in its fourth year, would help the town recognize the “perseverance and hard work of local farmers.”
“This is also one way for us to help farmers promote and market their produce,” she added.
The massive vegetable salad served during the culmination program contained 140 kilos of romaine lettuce, 100 kilos of cucumber, 50 kilos of sugar beets, 30 kilos of tomatoes, and 80 kilos of carrots, all grown in Benguet.
“I felt the excitement of farmers for this year’s staging, given that we were not able to hold the activity for two years because of the pandemic,” Organo said.
The municipal government, the League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Areas, truckers, and the local business sector, organized the event.
The league donated all the vegetables used for the tossed salad. INQ
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