The Philippines’ Department of Agriculture has entered a formal partnership with Grow Asia Agriculture Forum, through the newly-formed Philippine Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture (PPSA)
The formalised agreement will pave the way for investments in food and agribusiness ventures in the Southeast Asian nation.
The Department of Agriculture said that the partnership would bring together players in the agricultural value chain including government, domestic, regional and multinational companies, multilateral and civil society organisations, farmers, consumers and entrepreneurs – to support existing and new rural-based enterprises.
So far, companies that conveyed their interest to take part in PPSA included Syngenta and Nestlé Philippines.
“Our goal is not merely to survive and endure during these challenging times, but to flourish and sustain, for the prosperity of the sector, notably smallholder food producers,” said the Philippines’ agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala.
Initially, the Department of Agriculture and Grow Asia are looking at coffee, cassava, corn, coconut and fisheries as focus commodities, he added.
The collaboration is timely, stated Alcala, given that the Filipino government generally turns toward private, local and foreign enterprises for much of capital and initiative in opening up rural enterprises and new lands for cultivation.
