By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Almost all festivals in the Philippines hibernated for the last 3 years, that’s why people eagerly await the resumption of such festivals, especially the established ones.
Count the strawberry festivals among those awaited and expected to provide entertainment for people. I would like to believe that it indeed lived up to expectations, mainly because it was resurrected after three years of hiatus.
People flocked to the different festival activities but like in the Panagbenga, the expected visitor turnout were not as visually good as the 2019 edition. Maybe blame that to the still intimidating COVID 19 scare? Or maybe lack of creativity as the activities were practically the same as in 2019?
Most people who are following the festival, that I talked to were almost unanimous in their verdict that there is practically no new activities, nor improvement of the usual activities. It is more of the same.
According to those people, there was a change definitely, on how one can partake of the enticing strawberry cake. One has to buy a coupon worth 30 pesos in order to get a very small piece of cake. And one has to endure a long queue to get it, although there were two lines for the purpose. As one sees the cake that was given, people were not in a hurry to eat it. They have to gratify their eyes first, making sure that it is really a strawberry cake since with only one quick swallow, the cake will be altogether out of sight for good. Besides, if they immediately swallowed it, it may choke them for being indignant in receiving an unexpectedly almost invisible cake.
Of course we know that preparations were somehow affected by the inactivity of the event for three long years. Its like driving for 39 years, then stopped driving for 3 years then all of a sudden you are requested to drive again. Naturally, you will be like a novice driver again.
The La Trinidad Strawberry festival is supposed to be 42 years-old already, being started by former mayor Hilarion Pawid in 1981. But it is only on its 39th year of actual observance due to the 3-year hiatus.
The 2023 Festival unveiled a white strawberry, which is a novelty of course. But remove the color red in strawberry and you are greatly reducing its anti-oxidant property; its medicinal value will therefore be greatly diminished. To me, the white strawberry should be planted only as a curiosity variety, not for widespread planting. There are actually strawberry varieties that were developed for ornamental purposes only not for human consumption. I guess that white variety is one of them.
From its humble beginnings, and as almost unknown for its first few years of existence, the festival have gone a long way of course. Proof of this is the sky high rental of a small stall in the industrial trade fair costing PhP120,000.00 per stall for dry goods, and PhP105,000 for food stall. All for a 45-day occupancy. This info is according to those who are occupying stalls there
That is a change. So who says there is no change in the festival?
A short visit to the trade fair area will show you that food stalls can easily pay that rental. For the dry goods, they have to net PhP2,667.00 daily in order to break even. It is a difficult climb for them.
Straying into the Agro Trade Fair area in front of the municipal hall, I was surprised to see only a handful of exhibitors. I don’t know if they limited the number of participants or not. But it seems there is very little space where it was held.
I was glad though to know that there is now an alternative to the presently very costly certification for organic producers. I learned it from my conversations with at least two personnel involved with the Organic Participatory Guarantee System of La Trinidad. The OPGS is maintaining a booth in the fair.
Ester Caga, chairperson of LATOP MPC and member of the Management committee of OPGS, and Marilou Saltico chairperson of the Marketing committee of same system, elaborated to me at length what PGS is all about, and how it works.
According to them, the too expensive certification of organic farms and producers will be a thing of the past once PGS will be in place countrywide. An organic producer will only pay about PhP6,000.00 + 700.00 for certification, good for 3 years. Before, a certification-seeking organic producer will have to shell out PhP120,000.00 to an accredited private certifying body such as OCCP. And the certification is valid for only one year. Really too expensive and cumbersome.
Such high cost of certification discouraged organic farmers to seek certification earlier. They could sell their produce as organic anyway. With the PGS, there is now a localized version of certification thus, more farmers will then apply for certification as organic producers. We will then see more organic produce flowing out from La Trinidad to other parts of the country. Later, export could be a possibility.
The PGS is registered with DOLE, accredited by Civil Society Organizations (DA national and DA-CAR), And likewise accredited by the L.T. Sangguniang Bayan.
In La Trinidad, there are 7 organizations from Shilan, Tawang, Ambiong and Balili with more than 200 members under the umbrella of OPGS-LT. They are set to undergo validation inspection this coming Mar 28, 2023. The OPGS-LT is hoping to be the 5th one to be accredited and certified in the country after those in N.Ecija, Calabarzon area, South Cotabato, and Tublay. They already have 3 certified inspectors, with 2 more on the block.
o-o-o
Notice that the title of this piece is Strawberry and organic production. The word Festival is not included. Strawberry is now produced in locations such as Nueva Vizcaya, Bukidnon, Pampanga, Camarines Sur, Ormoc City, Cavite, Tanay and others. Of course their production is not as good as what we produce here in CAR, especially in the Baguio-Bennguet area.
My fear is that, strawberry festival will become a misnomer in the near future. Why? The strawberry areas in La Trinidad, are precipitously contracting due to housing needs and commercialization.
The only production area that is largely untouched is the BSU property in the swamp area. BSU is preserving it. It is the main strawberry area but when it is promoted as a tourism area, the name BSU is not even mentioned. The local government units should work closely with BSU, a national academic agency for tourism purposes, and to safeguard strawberry production. There is no need to file a law in Congress to preserve that BSU property for strawberry growing.**
