The Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing a partnership with the Israeli government to help modernize Philippine agriculture by putting up a pilot farm that will make use of solar technology in Clark, Pampanga.
“We are pursuing the collaboration between the Israeli and Philippine government on modern agriculture, specifically,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told reporters in a recent interview.
“We have agreed to establish a pilot farm where we will showcase solar technology with greenhouse,” he added.
Piñol said the DA and the Israeli government will establish the pilot farm in a 50-hectare plot in Clark.
“This is a new concept in solar- energy production, [as] underneath the solar panels would be greenhouses with controlled temperature to produce high-value crops and vegetables,” he said.
The DA chief said they are targeting to construct the pilot farm before the end of the year using funds from the Philippine government. The Israeli government would provide the solar technology with greenhouses, according to Piñol.
“Clark is a very strategic [area] because of its airport facility. The 50-hectare solar farm cum greenhouse that we intend to establish will be done with the PNOC [Philippine National Oil Co.],” he added.
Citing the PNOC, Piñol said the pilot farm would be able to produce 25 megawatts of power from the 50-hectare greenhouse.
“According to the PNOC, for every hectare of solar farm with greenhouse, they will be able to use 0.5 megawatts,” he said. “So, at 50 hectares, we are looking at about 25 megawatts of power to be produced from 50 hectares of greenhouse.”
Piñol said they would send farmers from Benguet province in July to Israel where they will undergo training on modern vegetable
production.
This is part of the partnership between the DA and the Israeli government on enhancing the skills of Filipino farmers, according to Piñol.