Alcala orders agri attaches to promote Phl farm products

MANILA, Philippines - Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has instructed the country’s agricultural attaches to find new ways to increase the exports of Philippines farm commodities and address the trade deficit.

During his recent meeting with the Department of Agriculture’s foreign agriculture service corps (FASC), Alcala told agriculture attaches to review trade relations and explore ways to export non-traditional agriculture products along with traditional ones.

The agricultural attaches returned to the country for their biennial meeting with Alcala and briefing with attached Agriculture agencies from January 14 to 22, 2013. They also visited several regional offices and projects in Davao, Iloilo and Aklan.

 â€œHelp conclude trade transactions. Understand our products and find ways to break barriers for the benefit of our farmers, fishers and agri-fishery stakeholders,”  Alcala told the attaches during his meeting with them.  

“In one of my meetings with the President, he pointed out that we have unfavorable balance of trade in agriculture with so many countries. I acknowledged that the DA has not given enough attention and effort on this. This is one of your immediate tasks — to look into the existing trade relations, and find ways to improve our balance of trade in agriculture,” he added.

The DA currently  has 12 agriculture attaches deployed in eight countries: Washington, United States; Beijing, China; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Brussels, Belgium; Bangkok, Thailand; Rome, Italy; Tokyo, Japan; and Geneva, Switzerland.

Alcala urged the attaches to help the private sector sustain the exportation of non-traditional products — like premium rice and meat products — beyond trial shipment periods. He said trade in these commodities are favorable to the Philippines because the livestock industry remains free from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and the poultry sector is untouched by avian flu.

He told the agriculture attaches to assist manufacturers by finding out the requirements and procedures for entering target markets. 

He also instructed them to help promote products of organic agriculture by linking Filipino producers and processors with prospective exporters, and helping them comply with requirements in target markets.