The agriculture sector emerged as the biggest winner in President Duterte’s two-day official visit to Thailand, as Manila signed agricultural agreements with Bangkok, including a pact aiming to advance one of the country’s underdeveloped industries.
In a news briefing in Bangkok on Wednesday, Philippine Carabao Center Executive Director Arnel del Barrio revealed the government has inked a deal with Thailand on swamp and dairy buffalo production. The implementing agreement, prepared by the Department of Livestock Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Philippine Carabao Center of the Department of Agriculture, intends to supplement the dairy industry of the Philippines.
The agreement comes in the form of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two Southeast Asian nations, with the purpose of strengthening collaboration on scientific and technical cooperation on swamp and dairy buffalo production. “The specific purpose [of this MOU] is to promote, exchange and collaborate, among scientists in the field of buffalo breeding and reproduction, [ways on] production, nutrition management and other areas.”
According to del Barrio, the MOU will also provide agricultural researchers in the Philippines the opportunity to visit laboratories in Thailand to learn how the country was able to improve their dairy production.
He added the implementing agreement is in support of the administration’s concerted effort to develop the local dairy industry, which has not been doing well in the past years.
The MOU on swamp and dairy buffalo production is just one of the numerous agriculture agreements Duterte signed with his Thai counterpart in his two-day official visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor. In a joint statement between the President and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Duterte said the two countries recognize the importance of cooperation in the agriculture sector.
“There [has] been significant advancement in this area. We look to greater cooperation and exchange of best practices in the [fields of] irrigation, artificial rain, livestock and fisheries, and application of technology for soil and water conservation,” Duterte declared.
He added the Philippines and Thailand have vibrant economic relations, with a trade value of over $9 billion in 2016, and the agriculture sector contributes to this significant growth.
Image credits: AP/Sakchai Lalit