TANAY, Rizal- With the tourism industry hit hard by the pandemic, the tour guides in this town have made good use of their time while in quarantine and are now harvesting the “fruits” of their labor.
The tour guides numbering about 3,500 were seasoned farmers first before they were tapped to help the town boost its tourism industry, according to Romeo Cruz, head of the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO).
The popular tourist destinations in Tanay are the Tinipak river, Mount Daraitan, Regina Rica, Daranak Falls, Batlag Falls and Calinawan cave.
With time in their hands, the tour guides planted vegetables and fruit trees as the whole of Luzon went into quarantine in March.
Cruz said the farmers supply the vegetable demand of the town and nearby municipalities in Rizal province, including crops in season.
To help the farmers, the local government give out free vegetable seeds and teach farming techniques to residents who wanted to try farming after losing their jobs to restrictions to stem the spread of the virus.
The harvests are being sold at the town’s Public Market, which is the center of agriculture trading in the eastern part of the province while other farm produce are brought to Cogeo Market in Antipolo.
The town’s Organic Trading Post, has also been helping the local farmers find the right market for their products, according to Cruz.
Tanay also offers Agri Tourism as most of the farms are also tourist destinations.