The Benguet municipal government admitted that the sustainable production of quality strawberries is threatened by land conversion projects in various parts of the municipality. According to municipal agriculturist Nida Organo, if not for the vast tract of land owned by the state-run Benguet State University (BSU), which remains to be for institutional use, the strawberry production in the municipality would have been affected because of the rapid conversion of agricultural lands to commercial areas.
Aside from the ongoing land conversion, she claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on the production of strawberries which caused numerous farmers to lose their established source of livelihood. The pre-pandemic production of 11.44 tons of strawberries in 2020 dropped to only more than 7 tons in 2021 before bouncing back to 11.94 tons last year.
Source: manilatimes.net