BAGUIO CITY March 26– The local government has lined up simple but meaningful activities for the celebration of the prestigious Agri-tourism Fair in the city from May 1 – June 2, 2018.
Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr., chairman of the City Council Committee on Market, Trade, Commerce and Agriculture, said that the celebration will kick off with a lecture series on urban gardening and vermin-composting in various barangays from May 1-31, 2018.
On May 2-3, 2018, farmers from the city’s agriculture barangays will be joining lectures on good agricultural practices (GAP) on strawberry which will be held within the DA-CAR compound at Guisad while GAP lectures on mango will be held in the same venue on May 4-5, 2018.
The local government and the Baguio We Want will be holding a seminar on urban gardening, specifically on zero waste management, on May 11, 2018 at the DA compound within the Baguio Dairy Farm while the final evaluation of entries for the Best Edible Backyard Garden will be held in the office of Councilor Yangot on May 19, 2018.
The 10-day Agri-Tourism Fair 2018 will be held at the Igorot Park on May 21-31, 2018 wherein the activities include showcasing of agricultural products of the different urban garden practitioners in the different barangays of the city, animalex or a specialized exhibition for livestock farming, horse breeding and veterinary medicine; organic specialized exhibition for organic products and technologies; fish expo or specialized exhibition for fishing and fish farming; showcase of recycled or zero waste products; showcase of urban gardening; practices or concepts; product demonstrations or audio-visual presentations and seminars; apiary or beekeeping, mushroom production, fermentation, lagundy syrup, production of banana burger patties, baking of herbal breads among others.
GAP lectures on vegetables will be held at the DA-CAR compound on May 24, 2018 followed by the Agri-Tourism Fair and Farmer’s Month culminating program on May 31, 2018.
Yangot said that the month-long activities will commence on June 2, 2018 with the annual conduct of the Farmers Summit which will be held in a venue that will be announced later to gather the suggestions and recommendations of the agriculture industry stakeholders on how to further improve the partnership between the local government and the private sector in improving the state of agriculture in the city.
The conduct of the annual agri-tourism fair has been an institutionalized activity of the local government in partnership with agriculture industry stakeholders to aggressively promote the products produced by farmers that are located in agriculture barangays in the city.
Yangot urged the active participation of concerned stakeholders to the lined up activities for this year considering the successful conduct of the same event in the city last year, thus, the increase in the number of activities and the participants from the agriculture sector.
He admitted that for a number of years, the local government was not able to effectively and efficiently attend to the needs of the concerned agriculture industry stakeholders because of the wrong perception that agriculture is not suitable in an urban center like the city but they were able to prove them wrong, thus, the existence of the agri-tourism fair in the city. **By Dexter A. See
