Benguet vegetable farmers to keep tilling amid Luzon quarantine

BENGUET, Philippines — Vegetable farmers whose crops are ready for harvest will be allowed to tend their farms, Benguet Gov. Melchor Diclas declared amid fears that the enhanced community quarantine imposed on all of Luzon will hamper the economic activities of farmers.

"It is about food security," Diclas declared as the national government required people to stay in their homes.

A steady supply of vegetables will be ensured, Diclas, a physician, vowed as he insisted "people of Benguet, and the rest of the residents of Luzon need to boost their body resistance by eating nutritious foods like vegetables."

Food production is among the essential industries exempted from work stoppages.

Benguet supplies at least 85% of the different vegetable market needs of the National Capital Region and the rest of the country.

Gov. Diclas stressed that the vegetable production should go on, while farmers have to practice safety health precautions against COVID-19.

Diclas has meanwhile ordered a ban on the entry and selling of chicken dung in Benguet to avert an avian flu infection. He said Benguet cannot afford to have such infection as it deals with the COVID-19 threat.