The Philippine government and the United States have recently formed a ministerial team to collaborate on agricultural cooperation to enhance food security and efficiency in the country.
The partnership was finalized in a meeting between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the US Department of Agriculture officials, led by Secretary Thomas Vilsack.
Marcos emphasized the importance of the meeting, as the country aims to work together with the United States on the agricultural sector.
'Out of pandemic economy'
He acknowledged the challenges that the pandemic brought to the food supply chain in the Philippines and recognized the significance of strengthening the agricultural system in the country.
"As we had started to plan our way out of the pandemic economy, even the financial experts, we would talk about the economy, we would talk about the more strictly financial aspects of the development economy, we still keep coming back to agriculture and we cannot do all of the things that we would like to do for our economy if our agriculture is not — there are agricultural system — is not strengthened," the President said.
During the meeting, the Philippines sought to establish agreements for research development, capacity-building initiatives, and market expansion of agricultural products.
US cooperation
The US, on the other hand, expressed its eagerness to continue knowledge transfer and cooperation on agriculture innovation systems.
"(We’re) looking forward to an initiative where a number of your professors… will be coming to the United States, will be exposed to our own university system… so they, in turn, take it back to the Philippines," a USDA official said.
The President also looks forward to the Food Security Dialogue on May 5, which aims to further boost collaboration on capacity-building and technology support for an effective and efficient supply chain, export, and value-chain development of agricultural commodities.
