'SUMAN' SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES. Visitors flock to the booth of Infanta town to buy "suman" and other native food products during the "Niyogyugan Festival" at the capitol grounds in Lucena City on Saturday (Aug. 24, 2019). The town's suman emerged as the overall best-selling product during the 10-day festival. (PNA photo by Loretta Allarey-Paje)
MANILA -- The municipality of Infanta emerged as the top seller in the agri-booth trade exhibit held as part of the just-concluded “Niyogyugan Festival” in the province of Quezon.
Crisjohn Paul Paran, agricultural technologist in the province, said in an interview on Tuesday, that out of the PHP2,945,704 total sales of the Infanta booth, "suman" garnered a total sales of PHP1,511,950, making it the town's best-selling product during the 10-day trade exhibit.
Last year, the elongated native snack wrapped in fresh banana leaves was also the top selling product in the “Niyogyugan Festival” with more or less PHP2 million in total sales.
Paran, citing data submitted to his office, said the other best-selling products at the Infanta booth were cookies and salted eggs.
He added that second top-grosser Real town garnered total sales of PHP1,733,901, mainly for its own version of "suman", while third-placer, Atimonan earned PHP1.622,831, mainly for its "espasol".
Paran said the other top-selling products in the agri-booths were longganisang Lucban, pansit habhab and puto bao.
He noted that Infanta’s suman was a big hit among the locals and visitors because of its extraordinary taste.
“While the suman of other towns needs to be dipped in sugar or coconut jam in order to be best appreciated, Infanta’s is already full of flavor by itself and has exactly the right sweetness and a bit of saltiness. Also, the town’s suman makers do not scrimp on coconut milk. They use a lot of it,” Paran said.
He also noted that Infanta produces high-quality “malagkit” or sticky rice, which is crucial in making the town’s best-selling suman.
Paran likewise said Infanta town was overall Niyogyugan Festival 2019 winner, not just in the agri-booth sales but also in the street dancing, Bb. Niyogyugan, and float competitions.
Quezon celebrates Niyogyugan Festival annually as the farmers’ way of thanking God for their bountiful harvest of “niyog” or coconut, which is the province’s top agricultural product.
For this year’s event, all the 39 municipalities and two cities of the province of Quezon set up their booths at the capitol grounds where they displayed their own products for sale to local residents and visitors.
Each booth is an ingenious stand-alone, roofed structure made out of indigenous materials such as coconut shells, seashells and even dried fish.
Niyogyugan Festival’s seventh edition this year was held from August 16-26. (PNA)
