DAVAO CITY — India and the Philippines are looking at other agriculture-related partnerships after recently agreeing to pursue several projects, including the establishment of pilot farms in Mindanao for high-yield varieties of garlic and onion.
“Your indigenous garlics, just like in India, are very pungent. Some agreements were signed on setting pilot farms in Mindanao regions that will really improve productivity of onions and garlic, and it will result to hundreds of millions of dollars,” Indian Ambassador to the Philippines jaideep Mazumdar said at a news conference Wednesday during the opening of the three-day ASEAN-India 2nd InnoTech Summit in Davao City.
Mr. Mazumdar said an agreement was also signed with Land Bank of the Philippines for a project that will use satellite technology to reduce financing risk in agriculture.
The InnoTech Summit is being held alongside the ASEAN-India Grassroots Innovation Forum, which highlights best practices in community-based innovation.
“There are so many things in common between India and the Philippines. I would like to capitalize on getting all the innovation, finding all the business common ground,” said Johnny Chotrani, Philippines country chair of the ASEAN-India Business Council.
Mr. Chotrani also said that the two countries can benefit from sharing their respective expertise and “have more collaboration, more communication that will lead to something.”
The events are hosted by the two countries’ respective science and technology departments, the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the National Innovation Foundation-India.
Aside from the Philippines and India, participants come from the nine other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. — Maya M. Padillo
