Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. reacts while waiting for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit held in Labuan Bajo on May 10, 2023. (Photo by WILLY KURNIAWAN / POOL / Agence France-Presse)
MANILA, Philippines — A South Korean company has pledged to invest $30 million in the Philippines for the creation of a local agricultural machinery manufacturing plant to boost agricultural productivity and food security in the country.
The development came after the Department of Agriculture sealed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative, a federation of Korean agricultural machinery manufacturers.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. welcomed the deal, citing the importance of mechanization to boost agricultural production.
“We all recognize very clearly the importance of mechanization for our country because we are trying to move production. We are trying to make sure that at least the local supply for rice is sufficient and, of course, hopefully, also the other crops,” Marcos said.
“The key to all of this is mechanization and all of the things that we’re trying to do. We have some programs to mechanize. We have the RCEF (Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund) program, in which the collections from the tariffs on rice importations are then applied also to mechanization,” he added.
According to the president, establishing local machinery production will be the first step toward agricultural development, which is expected to result in better yield and lower production costs to make Filipino farmers more competitive.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said the memorandum of understanding includes the establishment in the country of a local agricultural machinery manufacturing cluster, including an assembly production line, research and development of agricultural machinery technology, workforce training on agricultural machinery technology, and a grant of official development assistance to further explore potential projects.