Duterte Diplomacy works!

SOUTH KOREA GRANTS $2.43-M

FOR PH ‘SMART AGRICULTURE’

By Manny Piñol

Secretary of Agriculture

Seoul, South Korea – Exactly a month after the successful visit of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to South Korea for a Bilateral Meeting with President Moon Jae In, Philippine Agriculture is already starting to harvest the fruits.

Yesterday, I flew in from Manila to sign a Memorandum of Agreement between the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Korea Agency for Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (EPIS) which involves the grant by the South Korean Government of $2.43-M for Smart Greenhouse Projects in Benguet Province.

The Smart Greenhouse Project is aimed at “Enhancing Productivity and Producing High Quality Tomato Through Smart Greenhouse in the Philippines” and implemented with the assistance of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

Earlier, during the visit of President Duterte from June 3 to 5, South Korea’s biggest supermarket chain, Emart which is a sister-company of Samsung, and the DA signed a P28-B fruit supply contract over the next 3 years.

Two weeks ago, chief executive officers of about 200 South Korean companies engaged in the manufacture of farm machinery and equipment travelled to Mactan Island in Cebu for their annual convention and expressed their intent to establish an assembly plant for their products in the Philippines.

Korean Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative (KAMICO) said the group needed a 50-hectare area for the assembly plant which would produce tractors and other farm machinery.

Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) Chairman Vince Dizon has already committed a 50-hectare area inside Clark Development Zone for the KAMICO Project.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez has also pledged to support the project by asking the Board of Investments (BOI) to provide incentives to KAMICO.

The K-SMART Agriculture project aims to 1) enhance production competitiveness of small and mid-sized farmers by establishing greenhouse technology for high-value added agro-product; 2) increase farmer’s income by enhancing distribution channel in related to co-branding and local shipping in the Philippines.

The first 18 K-Smart Greenhouses will be established in Benguet Province to produce high value vegetables, especially tomatoes.

As the DA Secretary, I have committed that as soon as high value vegetable farmers confirm the effectiveness of the Smart Greenhouses in increasing their productivity, I will propose the inclusion of the program for more greenhouses in the 2020 Budget of the DA.

(Photos show signing ceremony between Mr Park, Chulsoo, President of EPIS and Secretary Emmanuel Piñol of DA, PH, Sec. Piñol delivering the keynote address during the even while group photos show the Philippine Delegation with PH Ambassador to South Korea Mr Raul Hernandez. Photos by Aleli Maghirang and Mayette Tudlas.)