LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - Agriculture stakeholders here called incoming President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino III to give utmost priority to the protection of the lucrative vegetable industry which is the main source of income in this province by putting a stop to the smuggling of vegetables from abroad.
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The appeal of vegetable farmers came after unscrupulous smugglers started flooding the country's potential markets with imported carrots and potatoes at the time when the leaders of the nation are about to change the guards which greatly affected the prevailing wholesale prices at the vegetable trading post.
The stakeholders in the local vegetable industry urged the Aquino administration to be firm in fighting vegetable smuggling for the welfare of lowly farmers in the countryside.
They asked Aquino to continuously provide them with sufficient post-harvest facilities and better farm to market roads in order for them to produce better quality crops.
The different farmers associations cited the support to the development of the local vegetable industry goes beyond politics since vegetable farming is the primary source of livelihood of over 250,000 individuals in the 13 towns of this vegetable-producing province.
