P’sinan town out to regain tag as ‘veggie bowl’

VILLASIS, Pangasinan — This agricultural town is set to regain its old glory as the "vegetable bowl" of Pangasinan as it implements next month an ambitious P25-million bagsakan (trading post) market in the poblacion area.

Mayor Nonato Abrenica told The STAR that funding will come from the P15-million savings of the municipal government from the P40-million Philippine National Bank loan used to construct the town’s public market in 2002.

An additional P5 million will come from fifth district Rep. Mark Cojuangco, P3 million from the municipal government’s 20 percent development fund and P2 million as goodwill money from stall owners.

Last Aug. 2, the municipal council passed a resolution approving the construction of the Villasis Vegetable Trading Post.

Once the bagsakan market is put up, producers and consumers will benefit from cheaper and faster transport or delivery of goods, lesser spoilage of farm crops from open-field handling, and easy and safe access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Construction will start on Sept. 1.

Abrenica said he and the municipal council agreed on the project because Villasis farmers lack a trading post to market their produce and thus, have to depend on middlemen which, in turn, results in increased prices.

Agriculture is the major income source of Villasis folk. There are an estimated 6,838.92 hectares planted to rice, corn, vegetables, rootcrops, tobacco, fruit trees and other commercial crops, in this municipality.

Based on the 2000 records of the municipal agriculture office, 4,875.9 hectares were planted to palay and 195 hectares to vegetables and other miscellaneous crops, during the first cropping season.

During the second cropping season, corn dominated other crops with 1,161 hectares, followed by palay at 677 hectares, tobacco at 600.45 hectares, vegetables at 449.76 hectares, and other miscellaneous crops at 160 hectares.

This town used to be regarded as the "vegetable bowl" of Pangasinan. In fact, its official seal shows a bunch of vegetables and a wide agricultural field.

Northbound and southbound travelers often stop by this municipality to buy vegetables in volume because of their freshness and cheap prices.