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THE
Department of Agriculture (DA) disclosed over the
weekend that India has committed to assist the
Philippines develop its livestock sector and its
biofuels industry.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said the commitments
were made during the state visit of the President to
India, which ended on October 6.
“With
respect to agriculture, we focused on the potentials of
the Philippines’ biofuels industry and the livestock
sector,” said Yap at the sidelines of Agrilink 2007 in
Pasay City, which ended on Saturday.
The DA
chief said
India’s
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to bring in
livestock genetic materials to help the country build up
its herd. Yap said the assistance is particularly
welcome as the
Philippines
usually imports about 1.7 million metric tons of various
dairy products, of which 60,000 metric tons are carabeef.
“Right
now, the total number of livestock heads in the
Philippines is not at 40,000. How can you build the
dairy industry of this country with that number? We need
to bring this up to about 500,000 heads,” he said.
Earlier
the DA had already announced it has signed a memorandum
of agreement (MOA) with India-based energy firm Praj
Industries Ltd. to develop the biofuels industry in the
Philippines,
through the propagation of new farming technologies and
investments in the planting of sweet sorghum and other
crops to be used as feedstock for ethanol and biodiesel
production.
Under
the MOA, the DA and Praj—a company that develops
technologies and equipment for biofuels production—have
agreed to team up “for feedstock development and setting
up biofuel production plants” in the Philippines.
The DA,
through the Philippine Agricultural Development and
Commercial Corp. (PADCC), has committed to promote the
country’s fast-growing biofuels sector by way of
generating awareness on the use of agricultural
feedstocks used for ethanol and biodiesel production.
Through
PADCC, the DA will identify land for feedstock
development, encourage and assist farmers in cultivating
sweet sorghum or jatropha, help in attracting
investments for commercial-scale biofuel feedstock
production, and the construction of biodiesel and
ethanol plants.
“Top
officials of Praj Industries paid a courtesy call to
President Arroyo, and she was pleased to learn that by
March 2008 Praj will be producing bioethanol fuel in
Ormoc,” said
Yap.
The DA
earlier noted that the company will initially invest
some $400,000 for the propagation of feedstock such as
sweet sorghum.
Yap said
the details on how India would provide assistance would
be discussed in a joint working commission (JWC). The
JWC would meet in India before the end of the year to
discuss arrangements on agriculture, defense cooperation
and health.
Meanwhile, Yap said the Chinese government has
pronounced that official development assistance would
continue to flow into the
Philippines
despite the suspension of land deals between
Manila and
Beijing,
as well as the cancellation of the national broadband
Network and cyber education projects. |
