By Manny Piñol
Davao City – A top Israel Agricultural Company tonight formally offered to participate in the Philippines Solar-Powered Irrigation Program by sourcing funds and providing technology to irrigate 500,000 hectares over the next 3 to 5 years.
In a meeting tonight at the Apo View Hotel here in Davao City, Ilan Weiss, Chairman and Executive Director of the Innovative Agro Industry, one of the companies under the LR Group of Israel, said his company could access funding to build an estimated 8,000 units of Solar Powered Irrigation Systems in partnership with local engineering companies.
He said his company is willing to fund the estimated P44-B cost of the 8,000 units of SPIS to irrigation 500,000 hectares.
It was my third meeting with Weiss who came to Davao City along with Avi Elkayam, LR Group Renewable Energy General Manager who flew in from Israel for the meeting, and Gallit Tamir, the company’s business development manager.
Innovative Agro Industry was one of the Israel companies which participated in a forum hosted by the Israel Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines on Jan. 30 in Taguig City.
Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines, Rafael Harpaz, introduced the company to the Department of Agriculture during the event.
That introduction was followed by a meeting in the DA Central Office on Thursday, Jan. 31 where I invited the group to meet with a local construction company which won the contract to build a Solar-Powered Irrigation System in Tagum City.
Innovative Agro Industry officials met with Gentromech Engineering Company officers and agreed to collaborate with the Filipino company in designing the SPIS in Tagum City using Israel technology and design.
Weiss said the Israel design will be less costly than the set up being used by the DA now which requires the construction of a huge reservoir to store water which then is distributed to the fields.
Tomorrow, the group will proceed to the proposed site for the SPIS in Tagum City to conducted a field inspection and assessment.
“We bring with us our vast experience in this field, including fertigation technology which could double or triple the yield of your crops,” Weiss said.
The Tagum City SPIS will be the first unit to be constructed using Israel design and technology and is expected to be complete in three months or less.
(Photos of the meeting between the DA, the Israel Group and Gentromech officials taken tonight at the Apo View Hotel in Davao City.)
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