The local government here has assured an ample supply of vegetables for the holiday season.

“We have been assured by the traders that there will be a sufficient supply of vegetables when we celebrate Christmas and New Year,” said Mayor Romeo Salda in a chance interview on Wednesday.

In preparation for the peak season of trading, the mayor said they are also doing some preparations to minimize the effect of the movement of more vehicles in the town.

He said the municipal traffic committee is also meeting with traders to assure that the flow of traffic will be manageable as more truckers arrive at the different trading facilities here to pick up supplies for transport to the different markets to as far as Visayas and Mindanao.

“Traffic is a problem every holiday season and we would like to assure that we will minimize inconvenience to our people as the farmers and traders also get the opportunity to earn from the holiday season and recover from the losses due to the pandemic.”

The capital town hosts four big vegetable trading facilities — the La Trinidad vegetable trading post managed by the municipal government; the Benguet Agripinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) jointly managed by the Department of Agriculture, Benguet State University and the provincial government; the Wangal cold chain facility managed by the provincial government and the private facilities Farmer’s Center; and the Palmaville trading facility.

Governor Melchor Diclas in a separate interview said the provincial agriculture office has assured that supplies are steady and the prices of the commodity affordable to the public.

Diclas said there were no major rains that caused damage to the vegetables and was confident that they can provide the requirement of the market.

Benguet produces 85 percent of the highland vegetable requirement of the country which is transported to as far as Batanes in the north and Mindanao in the southern part of the country. (PNA)