SINGAPORE -- Singaporean commodity trader Olam International plans to invest $3.5 billion into key growth areas, such as edible nuts, coffee and cocoa, over the next few years, while exiting four existing businesses to raise funds.

DAVAO CITY -- Coconut products and fresh banana, despite seesawing volumes and values over the years, have consistently been among the country’s major agricultural exports.

MEMBERS of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board said moves to liberalize sugar imports will lead to the “demise” of the sugar industry and generate unrest in sugar-growing areas.

DAVAO CITY -- The Davao Backyard Swine Raisers Association is planning to construct a P10 million feed mill facility to lower the cost of backyard farmers and improve the biosecurity of small steads.

DAVAO CITY -- The Puentespina Farm, maker of the award-winning Malagos chocolate brand, has become the first in the Philippines to join the list of recognized “heirloom” farms by the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative (HCP).

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY Emmanuel F. Piñol said that he will discuss with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) the possibility of issuing bonds for the benefit of the agriculture sector.

RICE was very much at the center of the political debate in 2018, from its starring role in stoking inflation to the future of the National Food Authority as a provider of support prices to farmers and a supplier of subsidized grain to the poor. By the end of the year, a bill was on the President’s desk that threatened to sweep the old order away, removing the NFA’s admittedly corruption-riddled role in rice imports and leaving it to the private sector.

THE agriculture sector’s growth for 2018 could have been flat -- or worse than the 1% estimate given by Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, an economist said.

THE National Food Authority, which is in the middle of a restructuring to focus on domestic rice purchasing and storage, will move to ease the requirements on farmers seeking to sell their output to the agency.

NEW DELHI -- The Indian government is considering raising the minimum selling price of sugar, television news channel ET Now reported on Friday.

LONDON/HAMBURG (Reuters) -- Sales of British malting barley to European Union brewers and malt producers for delivery after Brexit have come to a virtual stop because of uncertainty about future trading relations.

ABIDJAN/NEW YORK -- Farmers in top cocoa grower Ivory Coast say the current crop is worsening, with beans starting to rot, as lack of financing prevents them from properly fermenting and drying beans already stressed by bad weather.