THE Czech Republic wants to export agricultural and food products such as dairy and meat to the Philippines as well as provide “know-how” to help train Filipino farmers.
“We see a huge potential not only in the imports from Czech Republic to the Philippines but also in the other direction,” Marek Výborný, Minister of Agriculture for Czech Republic said at a briefing in Makati City on Thursday.
“So when it comes to agriculture and food industry, what we can offer are for example, meat products, but also things like genetic material of breeding cattle and also dairy production, or what is suitable to transport in such a huge distance,” Czech agriculture chief noted.
At the business delegation between the Czech Republic and the Philippines, Výborný said in terms of livestock commodities, the European country has “excellent results,” such as in milk production and milk yields.
In fact, he noted, “The Czech Republic’s yield is among the world’s best and we’re actually the third amongst the EU member states.”
The Agriculture minister highlighted that the European country is “especially famous for the exports of durable dairy and meat products confectionery and bakery products and food preparation, as well as for the exports over quality livestock for breeding purposes and also their genetic material.”
At least 25 Czech companies flocked to the Philippines for a six-day business delegation. These firms belong to different areas such as beverage, butchery, dairy, vegetable breeding, transport and warehousing, odor repellents against animals, insurance for export and investment credits, poultry breeding, production of medicinal products, water management, recruitment, brewery, education, among others.
Apart from agricultural products, Výborný said the European country is also “ready to provide know-how and expertise to help train your farmers.”
In the labor aspect, the Agriculture minister said that Czech has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, which he said is about 3 percent. With this, his country is offering thousands of jobs within its food industry.
He then noted that this is a potential area for mutual cooperation “because we can offer jobs to your people and your people can then transfer the know-how back to the country.”
“And I’d like to stress that the positions for the jobs that we’re offering are not only in primary production; it’s not just about blue collar workers, but also speaking about positions in management of farms,” said Výborný.
The Agriculture minister added, “I’ve repeatedly heard highly positive feedback from the Czech farms and czech food industry speaking about Filipino workers.”
It is worth noting that one of the 25 Czech firms that flocked to Manila for a business delegation is Clever Advisor s.r.o. which has a company description that says, “From identifying suitable candidates to navigating the intricacies of visas and work permits, we provide a complete solution for hiring workers from abroad.”
Also one of the participating Czech firms is the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), a university of agricultural education and research, based on the delegation brochure.
Data from Tradeline Philippines, an export data and service portal, showed that total trade between the Philippines and Czech Republic amounted to $396.31 million in 2023.