By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
Piddig, Ilocos Norte—The small farming Brgy. Maruaya here is developing itself as the first flower capital in Ilocos region with thousands of sunflowers and other edible flowering plants and lowland vegetables ready to wow visitors.
Located about 22 kilometers, or less than an hour drive from Laoag City, the Piddig Organic Farmer’s Association established the huge flower farm in time for its grand opening on February 14, 2019.
Inspired by various world-class attractions being frequented by tourists here and abroad, the Piddig flower farm features picturesque landscape of sunflower maze, bougainvillea, blue ternatea, roses and assorted vegetables.
According to former Piddig Mayor Eduardo “Eddie” Guillen, who serves as adviser of the farmer’s organization here, he said local farmers here are shaping their agricultural town into an agri-tourism destination where visitors can relax, learn and take advantage of their organic products.
With an entrance fee that ranges from PHP100-PHP50, Mr. Guillen said visitors can roam freely at the farm and enjoy its gorgeous amenities.
For a Piddig native like Jennifer Lacuata, she said “It’s always a breath of fresh air” to see her hometown being developed and try something new or out of the box.
She recalled going to Maruaya with so many barren lands, if not planted with a small parcel of tobacco, rice or just a pasture land as water is scarce especially during the dry season.
But with the initiative of the local government unit of Piddig, local farmers were introduced to diversified crops farming and vermicomposting.
As host to the first ever national convergence project for coffee, Piddig is leading the way in empowering its farmers to be on the fore front of agro-tourism development.
Aside from the flower farm being developed in Maruaya, the Piddig government has also initiated the development of a 500-hectare coffee plantation in this northern gateway of Luzon seated on a highland area with 1,200-meter elevation at Sitio Lammin in Brgy. Dupitac.
To date, some locals who used to have unstable livelihood are actively engaged in maintaining coffee and other indigenous tree nurseries while other farmers are into production of vermicast, organic rice, tobacco, fruits and vegetables and recently, the flower garden of Piddig.
Mr. Guillen said it entails a lot of hard work and perseverance to encourage farmers to deviate from the old norm.
“They have been used to it [traditional farming] and when you introduce something new to them, they won’t believe you until they see it for themselves what it is like,” said Mr. Guillen as he expressed gratitude for having a government that clearly understands the needs of its people and it is now being felt at the grassroots.