At least 10,000 farmers, fisherfolks and livestock raisers in Albay participated in the “Agri-Fiesta” now in its fifth year at the Albay Farmers’ Bounty Village in Cabagnan, Camalig, Albay this week.
They brought with them their biggest, longest and heaviest produce of banana, ampalaya, eggplant, langka (jackfruit), squash and watermelon for the “pinaka” contest which is one of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) ways of enjoining farmers to participate in such events already being held in provinces across the country.
The peculiar contest called “ngarab-ngaban” mais (corn eating contest) which is a test of endurance of the teeth by eating three pieces of boiled sweet corn in two minutes and the “mani ko baluka mo” (manually cracking peanut) brought a barrel of laughs as men and women contestants tested their skills.
Edgar Alba of Guinobatan, Albay won P2000 cash prize after finishing three corns. His secret: do not drink water while eating the corn especially when in a hurry or in a contest.
For 40-year old Jose Salomon of Barangay Tinago, Camalig, Albay who emerged as winner of peanut cracking, when manually cracking, the secret is to crack the peanut on the soft part.
At the opening activities of the festival, more than three thousand rice farmers received five thousand pesos financial assistance from the DA.
Albay Provincial Agriculture Office Head Cherryl Rebeta also reported that more
than 153 million worth of agricultural inputs, garden tools, organic and inorganic fertilizers, palay seeds, corn and vegetable seeds were also distributed to the farmers during the event.
Lovella Guarin, Public Information Officer of the DA- Bicol also said a similar celebration is going to be held on May 14-16, 2024 at the Regional Agriculture Office in Pili, Camarines Sur.
