The Philippines is booting relations with South Africa and looks ahead to sharing technology and other tools in agriculture going forward.
This was learned from the Department of Agriculture (DA) which has crafted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and technical cooperation in the field of agriculture with the South African government.
The DA bared possible ventures in the wake of a meeting between Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban and South African Ambassador to the Philippines Bartinah Ntombizodwa Radebe-Netshitenzhe who tackled potential areas for agricultural cooperation helping boost the two countries’ food production and economic success.
The MOU seeks to promote bilateral cooperation on capacity-building, technology advancement, agricultural trade, agribusiness and knowledge-sharing by conducting joint activities, projects, programs and exchanges.
Panganiban encouraged the government of South Africa to import tuna, sardines, coconut oil, mangoes, bananas and other tropical fruits from the Philippines while ambassador Radebe-Netshitenzhe touted South Africa’s production of citrus and meat products.
The country’s Bureau of Plant Industry is also completing the pest risk analysis of South Africa’s table grape plantations following its recent visit to Pretoria.
South Africa ranks 42nd among Manila’s trading partners and the largest African trade counterparty with total trades worth $125.1 million.
South Africa exports mostly onion seeds, dog and cat food, fruit juice mixtures, undenatured ethyl alcohol, grape wine, peaches, mixture of juices, water that include mineral and aerated with added sugar, mandarins and apple juice to the Philippines.
The Philippines sends over export products to South Africa including desiccated coconut, tobacco, coconut oil and its fraction, mucilage and thickeners, carrageenan, preparations suitable for infants and young children, tobacco that were not stemmed-flue-cured, sauces and preparations, coffee extracts, essences and concentrates and coconut concentrate.
