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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

PH, Israel sign P44-b loan to support farming technologies

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The Philippines and Israel signed a P44-billion long-term loan agreement that will support the introduction of new farming technologies in the Philippines using solar-powered irrigation.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol and Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz signed Wednesday the implementing agreement on agricultural cooperation. The agreement is the final output of a series of negotiations between the two countries which started during a visit of Filipino officials to Israel in 2018.

The banner program under the agreement is the transfer of technology, funding and establishment of solar-powered irrigation systems across the country. It will involve the establishment of 6,200 units of computerized solar-powered irrigation systems that will provide irrigation to 500,000 hectares of rice farms and other high-value agricultural products over the next three years.

The project will also include the introduction of the “fertigation” technology where the irrigation systems will allow the application of fertilizers and other farm inputs which would be mixed with irrigation water.

All the SPIS units will be interconnected with a computer program that would allow the Agriculture Central Office to monitor the performance of each system all over the country.

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The Israeli government is currently completing the installation of two prototypes of the SPIS”•one for a small farm setup of up to five hectares and the other for a big farm setup of up to 100 hectares.

The prototypes were donated by an Israeli company which is one of those interested in undertaking the SPIS projects in the Philippines. The prototypes are expected to be operational by the end of July.

Israel considered the Philippines an ally in the region after the Philippine government provided refuge to Jewish refugees fleeing  Europe during World War II. The Philippines also voted for the creation of an independent state of Israel.

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