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MIDDLE
Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar are eyeing
to lease lands in the Philippines to plant crops and
raise livestock suitable for halal, the Department of
Agriculture (DA) said.
Agriculture Undersecretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said
officials of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are conducting
exploratory talks with the Philippine government for the
possible lease of nonirrigated lands.
“Saudi
Arabia is keen on leasing lands which could be planted
to wheat and for meat processing. They are keen on
developing nonirrigated lands. Qatar, meanwhile, is
interested in going into raising livestock for halal
products,” said Puyat in an interview.
She said
irrigated lands are off-limits to Middle Eastern
investors, since these are already reserved for the
planting of staple crops like rice.
Puyat,
however, maintained that not all the crops or livestock
produced would be shipped out of the country. The
Philippine government is also looking at the possibility
of putting up joint ventures.
The DA,
however, could not yet provide information on the size
of nonirrigated lands that may be leased to Saudi Arabia
and Qatar.
Meanwhile, Puyat disclosed that DA officials, led by
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, are set to join
President Arroyo in a state visit to the Middle East in
December.
She said
a memorandum of cooperation on agriculture will be
signed during the trip to the Middle East.
The
Philippine government, particularly the DA, is keen on
attracting more foreign investors into the country’s
farm sector as a way of fast-tracking the development of
the countryside.
In 2007
the Philippines inked two memoranda of agreement with
China’s Jilin Fu Hua Agricultural Science and Technology
and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government. The
agreements called for developing 1.2 million hectares of
land for the cultivation of hybrid corn, hybrid rice and
hybrid sorghum. |
