KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines – Tourists from across North Cotabato and surrounding provinces flocked to the city Wednesday to grace the Timpupo Festival intended to highlight the area’s booming exotic orchard industry.
Kidapawan City is the capital of North Cotabato, covering 17 towns which produces mangoosten, durian and lanzones in big volumes. The city is touted as the fruit capital of the province.
Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista, whose office is overseeing the yearly Timpupo feast, told reporters one of the objectives of the yearly event is to showcase the fruit production in local agricultural enclaves.
Timpupo is a generic term for harvest season among Visayans and indigenous highland tribes in North Cotabato.
Peasant organizations in Kidapawan City boast of best varieties of durian which they sell to buyers here and elsewhere in Central Mindanao.
Durian is widely revered as the "king of fruits" in southeast Asian countries.
Evangelista said they also aim to attract, through the festival, potential large-scale fruit buyers based in other regions in Mindanao and other parts of the country.
He said peasants here are grateful to the city government and the office of North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza for helping them address pest problems, through scientific and traditional interventions, to ensure bumper harvests.
Mendoza and her staff also participated in Wednesday’s launching of the Kidapawan City fruit festival.