Although the rice terraces are supposed to be an ancient achievement of early settlers in the Philippines, the process of terracing the mountains have not really stopped. This I realized when I visited a vegetable farm along the mountain trail in Atok, Benguet.
It is not rice that is being grown here however but vegetables like potatoes and cabbage . What I found troublesome however is the reliance of modern terrace builders on chemicals such as weedicide to help them clean up land faster.
This is one reason why even though vegetables are aplenty in this place, I am wary about consuming a lot of them. Someone even said that at times, you can even taste the pesticide in the vegetables even if they are thoroughly washed.
Hopefully, farmers here can go organic one day.
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