BAGUIO CITY – The municipal authorities of La Trinidad has urged farmers to undertake elevated strawberry farming to supply 3 times their common yield and battle the consequences of land conversion.
Nida Organo, municipal agriculture officer of Benguet’s capital city La Trinidad, stated that because of land conversion, strawberry farmers are left to lease areas to develop their produce as extra farmlands develop into privately owned and are transformed for different non-farming functions.
“We urge the farmers to adopt the new technology which has been proven to increase yield three times more than what is produced when farming on the ground,” Organo stated.
Organo cited the La Trinidad Strawberry Farm for instance, saying that the items of land that the Benguet State University-owned property rents out to strawberry farmers have gotten fewer because of land conversion.
The greatest conversion within the space occurred in early 2000 with the institution of the Benguet Agripinoy Trading Center (BAPTC), the place a facility for buying and selling, storage, and easy processing of highland agricultural merchandise was established.
Elevated or vertical farming is the follow of rising crops in vertically stacked layers. Benguet farmers discovered this kind of farming expertise from Japanese farmers despatched by the native authorities of Kochi Prefecture by an agricultural trade program between Kochi and Benguet, whose ties date again to 60 years in the past.
Based on the newest stock, 37 irrigated areas on the town are at the moment getting used for strawberry farming. Strawberries are additionally planted in mountainous areas in some villages in the course of the wet season.
The city has recorded a mean manufacturing of 11.44 metric tons of strawberry throughout its season that begins from December as much as April.
Aside from strawberries, farmers additionally intercrop the fruits with different crops like lettuce to maximise the realm they’re renting and recoup the cash they spend for lease, Organo stated.
Year-round
Organo stated that in contrast to within the Nineteen Eighties and early 1990, strawberries are actually being produced year-round with costs various relying on the season.
She stated that for the open area plots, manufacturing is restricted to 6 months as berries are simply broken by rain.
In distinction, people who use tunnel greenhouses that home elevated farming can produce year-round. Tunnel greenhouses are these which are coated by thick plastic that’s held by bamboo or steel braces to stop collapse.
Organo, nevertheless, clarified that in the course of the low season, berries produced are typically smaller each in dimension and amount than these produced in the course of the strawberry season. (PNA)