Davao City business chamber exploring agri trade with South Africa
THE Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. and the South African Embassy in the Philippines have started discussions on potential trade in agricultural products. “It’s going to be more of (Davao) agricultural products going there (South Africa),” Davao City Chamber President Maria Lourdes G. Monteverde said during the business group’s membership meeting last week. She said they had a virtual meeting with South African Ambassador Bartinah Ntombizodwa Radebe-Netshitenzhe on March 17 for initial ideas on trade links. “They really like our agricultural products, so they look forward to our products as part of the export possibilities or opportunities. But we are still looking into the logistics sector,” Ms. Monteverde said. “South Africa has been here for the past 10 years already and they have a lot of infrastructure projects that they would want to connect with us. They would want to invest here also,” she added. — Maya M. Padillo
ILO, Japanese government deliver water system in Wao, Lanao del Sur
SIX villages in the town of Wao now have a water supply system, considered the biggest connected network in Lanao del Sur province, through the Water and Sanitation Project of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Japanese government. In a statement on Tuesday, the ILO said the system benefits about 10,000 people in underserved communities that had limited water resources for two decades. “Water has become more valuable during COVID-19 especially for areas facing multiple burdens such as extreme poverty, conflict, and climate change,” said Khalid Hassan, Director of the ILO Country Office for the Philippines. “We are grateful to the Government of Japan for giving us the opportunity to take part in Mindanao’s development through this water project that creates decent work, provides safe water and promotes peace,” Mr. Hassan said. The P17-million water system is also seen to boost productivity in the areas where people depend on agriculture for livelihood. — Gillian M. Cortez
P914-M irrigation projects completed in Bohol
FOUR irrigation projects worth P913.7 million were recently completed in Bohol, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said on Tuesday. The projects are: Benliw Small Reservoir Irrigation project in Ubay; Catigbian Small Water Impounding project in Buenavista; the Oghob Small Irrigation project in Batuan; and the Kagawasan Communal Irrigation project in San Miguel. Of the four, the P645-million Benliw project is the biggest with storage capacity of 2.86-million cubic meters of water. It is expected to benefit 400 hectares of farmland and 600 farmers in Ubay. “Aside from irrigation, the project is also expected to provide other incidental benefits, such as flood control, watershed management, aquaculture as a supplementary food source to the residents in the area, and soil conservation since it prevents the soil from eroding or reducing fertility caused by overusage,” NIA said in a statement. NIA Administrator Ricardo R. Visaya said the Ubay infrastructure is also a potential destination for agricultural tourism with its scenic views. The Catigbian irrigation project, worth P260 million, can store 322,000 cubic meters and cover 60 hectares of agricultural land. The P4.5-million Oghob project will provide irrigation water supply to 44 hectares of farms while the P4.2-million Kagawasan project, a part of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, will serve at least 25 hectares. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
Statistics agency updating livestock, poultry data in Laguna, Bukidnon
THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is currently updating the list of livestock and poultry establishments in the provinces of Laguna and Bukidnon as part of initiatives to improve the quality of available data that guide policy decisions. “This updating activity covers a total of 1,145 barangays in the provinces of Laguna and Bukidnon,” the PSA said in a statement. The information gathering activities cover establishments already in the database and new ones. PSA appealed to business owners and managers to take part in the initiative and give the necessary and true information. “The success of this undertaking is very important for the delivery of a reliable and updated statistics as a basis for government planning and policy formulation,” the PSA said. “The initiative is a special activity being conducted as part of the pilot survey in relation to the redesigning of the commercial livestock and poultry survey (CLPS). The CLPS is being redesigned to improve the survey estimates for livestock and poultry statistics,” it said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
