World Bank grant seen to boost Philippine farm exports

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) is using the $24.5 million grant from the World Bank to promote the export of Philippine agricultural products and enhance the system for distributing fertilizers to eligible beneficiaries.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the Technical Assistance for Sustainable Agriculture Transformation in the Philippines (TASAT) project would largely focus on increasing the global reach of local farm goods.

READ: DA, World Bank launch $1B transformation push

“We provided a large budget from the grant for export promotion…about 50 percent of $24.5 million will go to their office,” said de Mesa, also the DA spokesperson.

De Mesa is referring to the High-Value Export Crops and Agri-Fishery Export Development and Promotion Program Management Office established by the agency in April to position priority agricultural products in competitive global markets.

These include Cavendish bananas, cardaba/saba bananas, cacao, pomelo, rambutan, dalandan, mango, pineapple, okra, asparagus, pili, durian, avocado, dragon fruits, calamansi and ube.

The agriculture official said the agency had tracked initial results following the creation of an office solely dedicated to the promotion of agricultural exports.

“There have been successive openings of new markets for tropical fruits and high-value crops. That is really our focus,” he told reporters.

This week, 200 kilograms of mangoes grown from Guimaras were shipped to Europe and Hong Kong to promote the popular tropical fruit to these markets.

Some 18 metric tons of fresh Philippine pineapples cultivated in Mindanao made its way to the United Arab Emirates amid severe logistical bottlenecks.

Meanwhile, the country marked its maiden shipment of fresh Carabao mangoes to Canada, which consisted of 400 cartons.

READ: Philippine mangoes debut in Canada

De Mesa also said the TASAT project would support high-value crop production and improve fertilizer distribution by instituting a more comprehensive and efficient digital fertilizer distribution system.

“Remember we tried procurement, we [tried] paper voucher. Now, the focus is to improve the distribution, the efficiency of distribution through digital means,” de Mesa said.

“We start with IMC (intervention monitoring card), so we will focus on how to implement the system nationwide and enhance the distribution. We will no longer procure; it will be farmers’ choice,” he told reporters. INQ