Lady farmer successfully grows strawberries in Tabuk

Who would have thought that it only takes a hobby with dedication to grow strawberries in a warm place like Tabuk City?

Evelyn Abuan, a farmer in San Francisco, Barangay Dagupan Weste, Tabuk City has proven this with her love for cultivating the land and growing various plants.

In a visit to her newly established strawberry farm in San Francisco, Evelyn disclosed that she is actually a tenant of the land, which used to be a rice field. During the pandemic, she planted vegetables for her family’s consumption considering the limitations of accessing food in the market. She also planted two strawberry runners having considered that she had enough water to keep the land moist for said fruit variety to survive. Then later, having produced more runners, she started transplanting and was able to expand her two mother plants to hundreds.

She said that the strawberries were supposedly only for their consumption, but with its robust production she shared them on social media and the people started coming to buy as early as January.

“Kasla met latta common a plant ditoy Tabuk daytoy. Diay lang ag- gaget tayo lang a mapan mangsarungkar, kasla met lang iti flower di ba? Nu bay-bay-am diay flower ket matay met. Nu di ka sibugan, nu di ka nga ikkaten dagidiay old leaves na ken mabay -ay an met kanen dagitoy egges, kanen iti insekto,” she explained.

The secret behind cultivating strawberries

Strawberries are usually cultivated in places with cold weather like in La Trinidad, Benguet. But with Evelyn’s strawberries successfully grown in Tabuk City, the farmer concluded that the secret in growing them is simply diligence and enough water sources. Her farm is located near an irrigation sufficiently keeping the farm watered regularly.

“Diay lang gaget mo a mangtaripato idiay mula ta isu iti kayat na diay mula. Kasla met lang iti flower, siyempre nu haan mo tartaripatuen diay flower agbalin a gurang dayta. Kasla met lang iti mula tayo, mapan tayo dalusan – cleaning, cultivating, fertilizing,” she said.

She added that talking to plants is also a way to encourage them to bloom. Moreover, she revealed that she rarely put insecticides and when she does, she uses the ones that only lasted for 24 hours.

“Safe for free taste daytoy ta haan nak nga agap-apply a kanayon iti insecticides. Nu diay insecticides lang nga us-usarek ket diay pang 24 hours lang. As long as haan na kailangan iti insecticide, haan nak nga agi-ap-apply,” she said.

Additionally, now that summer is being felt in Tabuk, Evelyn said that she waters her plants more often, “nu tatta a summer, siyempre sibugam met ta uray met anya a mula kailangan na a masibugan.”

Meantime, visit to Evelyn’s strawberry plantation is free and it is a pick and buy and it costs P400 per kilogram.

“Daytoy strawberry, awan iti entrance mi, pick and buy met. Haan mo met a maiwasan nga ag-free taste iti maysa, idi bay am lattan,” she said.

Apart from the strawberries, Evelyn also planted cabbage, peanuts, corn, and sitting beans saying that why would she buy when she could plant herself.

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