Benguet farmers not worried about region's low temperature

TUBLAY, Benguet -  The highland region’s bone tingling chill which has reached 8 degrees Celsius for high-lying Benguet farmlands and 10 degrees for Baguio on Monday is no cause for worry among Benguet farmers.

Government agriculturist Lolita Bentres of Benguet says no vegetable farms in Northern Benguet where the vast temperate vegetable farms are located have suffered from frost bite yet.

Aside from the erratic temperature dip and hikes, frost bites are remote as lessons from the past has taught Benguet farmers mitigating measures like water sprinkling and shifting the schedule of planting.

The Agriculture Department assured the province is still able to meet its 2,000-metric-ton average daily vegetable harvest amid fears of a possible vegetable deficit.

Several years ago, farmers in Atok town and other locations suffered huge losses when frost attacked and wilted the leaves of vegetables.

The natural occurrence, however, has taught farmers through the intervention of agriculture experts to space and shift planting schedule and water sprinkling.

Now, leafy vegetables planted in the open and gardens are already matured during the last week of December to the end of January the following year.

Green leafy vegetables being grown during these periods of low temperature are sheltered inside greenhouses.

Root crops like carrots, potatoes and the like are hardly affected despite the frost.

Hence, when in the past, the dip in the temperature is cause for worry, eco-tourism organizers now jump with joy as the cold months of December to February have become a sure magnet for visitors to savour Benguet.

The weather bureau expects the temperature to even plunge to a low 9 degrees on Saturday in Baguio City before slightly climbing up during the first days of next week.

Northern Benguet usually experiences two degrees lower from Baguio.