Korea funds study on RP fruits

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) received yesterday a grant of $65,000 from the Korean government to fund a study on extending the shelf life of Philippine fruits.

A check worth $65,000 (roughly P3 million) from the Rural Development Administration of Korea was turned over to the DA’s High Value Commercial Crops Program at the start of the two-day 1st General Assembly of the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) at the Summit Ridge Hotel in Tagaytay City.

Representatives from 12 member-countries are participating in the conference being hosted by the Philippines. The conference participants will discuss projects aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture growth in the Asian region.

The Korea-funded initiative aims to address the Philippines’ problem of exporting fresh mangoes to other countries. Exports of Philippine fruits such as mangoes, bananas and pineapples have met strong phyto-sanitary resistance from more developed countries allegedly due to possible fruit pest contamination.

The Korean grant is a result of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Agricultural Scientific and Technical Cooperation signed by former Secretary Arthur C. Yap during the visit of President Arroyo to Korea last May 2009.

The Philippines is the number two exporter of mangoes to Korea with a 32.5 percent market share second only to Taiwan which has a higher market share of 43.8 percent.

Philippine mango exports to Korea is valued at $15.71 million.

The projects to be discussed during the two-day AFACI conference also aim to eradicate poverty and contribute to economic development through technological cooperation in the agriculture and food sector.

Besides the Philippines, the other AFACI member-countries are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Korea, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

An implementing agreement covering several pan-Asian projects, workshops and training programs will be signed during the conference.

The AFACI was established through an MOU signed among the member-countries on Nov. 3 last year.

It involves international collaboration for the development of sustainable agriculture and food technology to help economies deal with the changes in the agricultural environment triggered by, among others, global warming and technology transfer and development.