South Korea will be funding an agriculture mechanization center in Nueva Ecija, a city located in the north of Luzon. The grand project broke ground last May, with the construction expected to start soon.
The USD 5.78 million project will be funded through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and is expected to provide Filipino farmers better access to affordable and locally-manufactured agricultural machinery. The funding will cover the establishment of the Agricultural Machinery Design and Prototyping Center (AMDPC), development of new agricultural machinery technologies and prototypes, dispatch of Korean experts, and capacity-building efforts for the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech).
The Embassy is now in the process of selecting the construction agency, and the center is expected to be completed by 2026.
Further, still in the foreign assistance, the French Government is helping the province of Guimaras, an island province in the western region, to develop the Geographic Indication (GI) through technical assistance for its sweet mango products, in preparation for export to markets in the EU.
GI is a kind of branding that is attached to a certain location, such as Guimaras mangoes. It is proof that the product follows the desired standard of the target market while it also observes good agricultural practices during the production process.
The technical assistance is expected to focus on strengthening the Guimaras Mango Producers on Marketing Cooperative that handles the collective mark stickers for their mango products.
The Intellectual Property Office, with the help of the French government, EU, and the Food and Agriculture Office (FAO), is in the final stages of polishing the guidelines for the issuance of the permit for the GI.
(Source: Philippine News Agency)