Philippines’ Department of Agriculture Invites Italian Firms for Agricultural Modernization

Manila — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has reached out to Italian private businesses to collaborate on the modernization of agricultural facilities in the Philippines.

According to a news release by Philippines News Agency, the country is interested in a variety of avenues for collaboration, including smart agriculture technologies, scaled-up mechanization, commercial scale-oriented technologies, smart irrigation, and water impounding or retention systems. Panganiban also indicated Manila’s intent to collaborate with Italy on incorporating climate resilience into agricultural practices, with an emphasis on deploying sustainable and disaster-resilient technologies.

The invitation was extended during a meeting between Panganiban and Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Francesco Lollobrigida. The meeting took place at the World Food Forum Flagship Event hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome from October 16 to 20. During the meeting, Panganiban highlighted the robust agricultural trade relations between the two countries.

The total value of agri-food trade between the Philippines and Italy in 2022 reached approximately USD272 million, showing an increase of 50% from 2020 and a 10% rise from 2021. The Philippines’ principal agri-food export items to Italy for this year included crude coconut oil, tunas, mucilages and thickeners derived from vegetable products, pineapples in airtight containers, and banana chips. On the flip side, Italy’s primary agricultural exports to the Philippines included flour, meals, pellets of meat or meat offal, greaves, dog or cat food, sweet biscuits, waffles, wafers, tomatoes, and dried egg powder.

Furthermore, Panganiban mentioned a visit by an Italian Trade Mission to the Philippines in March. The mission consisted of five Italian businesses specializing in aqueducts, hydraulic engineering, water cycle management, irrigation systems, and water treatment facilities. The visit aimed to explore avenues for strengthening trade relations between the two nations.

Panganiban also provided an update to the Italian Agriculture Minister on ongoing preparations aimed at bolstering bilateral technical cooperation in the field of agriculture, with a focus on agricultural mechanization.