Declaration of La Trinidad as Strawberry Capital sought

LA TRINIDAD: Rep. Eric Yap wants this capital town of Benguet to be declared as the country’s Strawberry Capital in recognition of its current stature as the major producer of strawberry.

The lawmaker authored House Bill 10155 that also suggests making it a policy of the State to aggressively promote and fully support the strawberry industry in the country and ensure competitiveness in both domestic and foreign markets.

The bill also proposes that the State shall recognize the importance of sustaining and enhancing strawberry production as a driver of economic development.

At present, La Trinidad has around 1,120 farmers who rely on strawberry production as one of the major sources of their income while there are some 39 hectares of strawberry plantation sites mostly within the landholdings of the state-run Benguet State University.

In 2004, La Trinidad was installed in the Guinness Book of World Records after it was able to produce and present to the public the “Largest Strawberry Shortcake.”

Currently, the local government is advocating the mass production of the Snow White variety of strawberry in addition to the traditional Sweet Charlie variety to help sustain the available supply of strawberry that is being patronized by both residents and tourists that frequent the locality.

Mayor Romeo Salda welcomed the filing of the bill that seeks to declare the municipality as the country’s Strawberry Capital as it will definitely bolster the production of strawberries.

He expressed hope that Congress will pass the bill the soonest that will help in compelling concerned government agencies and other industry stakeholders in getting their acts together and formulate the appropriate comprehensive plan on how to advance the production of strawberry.