TACLOBAN CITY – The Highly Urbanized City (HUC) of Tacloban is currently hosting the 16^th National Vegetable Congress from September 27 to 29, 2017.

Jointly organized by the Philippine Vegetable Industry Development Board, the Department of Agriculture and  City government of Tacloban through Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez, the event gathers stakeholders in the vegetable industry from all over the country.

Coinciding with the 3-day event is an expo at the Tacloban City Convention Center (Astrodome) Grounds being participated by 20 exhibitors from local government units, farmer’s organization, food processors and handicraft manufacturers.

The event which carries the theme “Gearing up the Nation’s Vegetable Industry towards Global Competitiveness and Resiliency,” will tackle emerging challenges in the vegetable industry as well as highlight best practices in vegetable production, post harvest and marketing.

Among the topics for the various Plenary Sessions are High Value Crops Development Program; Philippine Guarantee System and GAP on Fruit and Vegetable; the Latest Trends in Post-harvest Handling, Packaging of Vegetable, and Mechanization; Climate-Smart Vegetable Production for Global Competitiveness and Resiliency; and the Program for Unified Lending in Agriculture (PUNLA): An Agricultural Financing Scheme.

The opening activities and plenary sessions will be held at the Astrodome.

Mayor Romualdez and Leyte 1^st District Representative YeddaK. Romualdez delivered the Welcome and Inspirational Messages during the Opening Program on Tuesday.

Meantime, Director Jennifer Remoquillo  – National Program Coordinator  of the High Value Crops Development Program delivered the Keynote Speech on behalf of Department  of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.

A fellowship Night, featuring local artists will be sponsored by the Local Government Unit for the delegates at the Astrodome. – Henry James G. Roca/CIO