Israel extends technical assistance to Pinoy farmers

MANILA, Philippines - The government of Israel recently extended its technical assistance program to Filipino farmers aimed at enhancing farm productivity and increase income in agrarian reform communities established under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

A memorandum of agreement was signed between Israeli Ambassador Zvi Vapni and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Nasser Pangandaman for the extension of the Philippine-Israel Center for Agricultural Training (PICAT) for another two years, following the success of its initial implementation and the positive results it brought to the lives of farmer-beneficiaries.

The first program of the PICAT assisted farmers in Nueva Ecija while the extension of the project is expected to benefit farmers in Pampanga.

“I’m glad to see these tested technologies continue to help our farmers in further enhancing the quality of farm products and increasing farm productivity,” Pangandaman said.

“It’s our pleasure to share with you whatever technology we’ve learned from other countries, especially in the field of agriculture where we’ve become most famous,” Vapni said.

Vapni noted that his country has developed extensively its technology in agriculture and produced export-quality farm products even without water. Israel is a nation with desert conditions in the south and snow-capped mountains in the north.

Under the agreement, Israel, through its National Agency for International Development Cooperation (Mashav) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would provide four professional experts a year for two years for agricultural training. The experts will conduct lectures and hands-on farming to show how the technologies work.   – Katherine Adraneda