Written by ARTHUR ALLAD-IW, Northern Dispatch

31 October 2009 15:30 

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – While admitting that storm “Pepeng” (Parma) damaged some of their farms, cut-flower farmers here assured enough supply to meet the demand for All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day. 

But the flower farmers and producers in Barangay Bahong in this town admitted there would be “reasonable” price adjustments because of the lower production caused by Pepeng.

Around 12 kilometers from Baguio City and 2.5 kilometers outside this town, Bahong is considered La Trinidad’s cut-flower industry center.

At the farm of Jacinta Segundo, 59, gathered Malaysian mums were being prepared Thursday for pick up and shipment to buyers in Manila, Cabanatuan City, Cavite.

Segundo explained that Pepeng, which crisscrossed Northern Luzon for about a week, destroyed at least 30 percent of their farms as strong and continuous rains ruined leaves and buds.

Only the flowers in their greenhouses survived, although she said these made up at least 70 percent of the produce.

“Nasuportaran da iman sin green houses isunga nan survive da para isnan apit (They were protected by the greenhouse and were able to survive in time for the harvest),” she said in the local Benguet dialect.

She accompanied us and shown their non-greenhouse farms where their plants were damaged as they had been directly affected by the typhoon.    

The farmers in this village have been busy in gathering their flowers since Wednesday and will continue doing so until Monday as buyers, especially from nearby Baguio City, rush to make last minute purchases before heading to cemeteries to honor their loved ones.

Segundo, who has been growing flowers for the past decade, said different varieties of Malaysian mums, the most produced during this season, sell for P130 to P150 a bundle, up from the P100 a bundle before Pepeng. 

Roses, the demand for which peaks in February for Valentine’s Day, cost P180 to P250 per bundle, or about two dozen, she added. 

The flowers sell for the same price in other flower-producing barangay, like Ambiong, Alno, vendors at the market here told this reporter. 

Transportation costs and other incidental expenses make the flowers more expensive in Baguio and Manila. 

Earlier, the Department of Agriculture in the Cordillera region said high-value commercial crops, including cut-flowers, were the worst hit by Pepeng, losing around P817,304,600.58.