The Department of Agriculture and Japan International Cooperation Agency on Friday signed the minutes of the meeting to amend the records of discussion for the technical cooperation project on market driven enhancement of vegetable value chain in the Philippines.
Agriculture senior undersecretary Domingo Panganiban and JICA chief representative to the Philippines Sakamoto Takema signed the minutes to strengthen the agencies’ mutual collaboration and commitment to the project.
“With the increasing food prices and inefficiencies in the food supply chain due to high cost of logistics and food distribution, we need to find ways by which we can lower the production costs, deliver goods to the markets, and make it more affordable to the consuming public,” Panganiban said.
The project, which commenced in early 2022, aims to strengthen vegetable value chain models in selected municipalities of Benguet and Quezon provinces, as well as in Metro Manila.
The signed minutes of meeting contained modifications, including an updated project framework based on the detailed planning survey conducted in August to September, as well as pilot projects for implementation.
The MVC2 project will develop inclusive business models that will contribute to increasing the income of vegetable farmers in the country.
The project will focus on rebuilding value chains to achieve food security and sufficiency, aligned with the directives of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.
Sakamoto said the long-standing cooperation for agriculture between the Philippines and JICA focused on the production side of value chain, which includes the establishment of agricultural infrastructures and irrigation systems.
He said JICA recognizes the importance of addressing the development needs in other aspects of the food value chain.
“This technical cooperation is a testament to this move, as JICA considers that this market-oriented approach is also essential to to address the issues related to income generation, job creation and disparity mitigation among others,” Sakamoto said.
“We envision our project to provide solutions to the pressing issues on food value chain, and eventually contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of Filipino farmers,” he said.