FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan signed in Hainan, China Tuesday an agreement to modernize the Philippines’ hybrid rice center.
The Department of Finance said in a statement Friday the development would boost the country’s palay production through a 27.52-million renminbi grant from China.
The agreement, to be implemented by the Department of Agriculture, covers Phase III of the Technical Cooperation Project for the Philippines’ Agricultural Technology Center.
The DoF said the RMB27.52 million grant (approximately P226.93 million or $4.36 million) aims “to contribute in boosting the rice production capacity of the Philippines towards rice sufficiency by upgrading the Philippine Sino Center for Agricultural Technology’s hybrid rice technology research and demonstration center into a Modern Hybrid Rice Breeding Station and Technology Demonstration Center.”