Farmers camp out for strawberries

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines—Summer is the best time to harvest strawberries. But as the weather bureau predicted, summer this year would be occasionally wet—a condition that is not welcome news for strawberry farmers of La Trinidad town in Benguet.

Once drenched by rain, ripe strawberries easily rot; thus, many Igorot farmers in La Trinidad are on 24/7 vigil to keep their plants protected before the rain falls.

Norlito Cayat has been camping out beside his 800-square-meter strawberry garden. “Sayang kasin no wat dan malotlot (It would just be a waste if ripe strawberries would just rot),” he says.

Cayat, a Kankanaey farmer in his 20s, does not want a repeat of what happened the previous year, when at least 300 kilograms of rain-soaked strawberries were damaged. At P100 a kg, that was P30,000 down the drain.

He put up a plastic-covered tent beside his garden in one of the farm lots being leased by Benguet State University (BSU), which owns most of the strawberry and vegetable farms in the valley of La Trinidad, Benguet’s capital.

Once the sky darkens, he covers his plots with transparent plastic sheets mounted over arched steel bars. If the weather is fine the next morning, he rolls the sheets so his crops can get enough sunshine.

Round-the-clock watch

“We have to guard our crops round-the-clock to ensure that we can maximize our harvest during this summer,” Cayat says.

At what is called the swampland in La Trinidad, many farmers have installed plastic sheets as a kind of greenhouse for plots of strawberries. Others have arched strips of bamboo as frames.

For Cayat, bent steel bars, which he uses, are more durable though expensive, costing almost P40,000. “But we have to invest on the steel bars for they are more long-term,” he said.

Cayat also camps out for another reason. He has to guard his garden against “bakal (steel) boys” who steal or collect iron scraps which they sell to junk shops.

Double the price

After three days of rain that ended March 30, prices of strawberries went up. The average farm-gate price is now P80 a kg, or double the selling price before the rain.

With his strawberries secured under the plastic sheets, Cayat has been harvesting at least twice a week since November. With 100-150 kg per harvest, he has been earning P8,000-P12,000 per harvest or P16,000-P24,000 weekly.

At Baguio City’s public market, a kilogram of strawberries is sold at P100-P150. But before it rained for three days, the strawberries were being sold at P40 to P50 a kg at the market and on the sidewalks.

To help raise consumer demand for strawberries, the town of La Trinidad has been embarking on a “strawberry festival” as a major tourism activity.

Among the event’s highlights are a giant strawberry cake and the exhibit and sale of processed strawberry-based products, such as wine, jams, preserves, bath soap and feminine wash.

Strawberry is produced in almost 80 hectares, mostly in La Trinidad’s valley and some in neighboring villages and towns.

Small cultivators

In the valley, most farmers are small cultivators, with each farmer leasing 500 to 1,000 sq.m. from BSU. The state-run university leases the farms at P10 per sq. m. for each cropping season.

Production depends much on how the farmers have learned to cultivate and how they adjust to changing weather and climate.

As more rains are seen, expect the price of strawberries to go up some more. Only Cayat and other farmers who protect their plants could make a killing.