Multi-agency STGA launches drive to entice OFS to go into agribiz
THE Sub-task Force Group on Agribusiness (STGA) kickstarted its program to lure overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) to invest in agriculture with its first webinar encouraging Switzerland-based Filipinos to venture into agribusiness.
In a statement, the STGA said the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) successfully held its first webinar for OFWS last March 13 under its Joint Work Plan on Trade and Investment Promotion for 2021.
The webinar was organized by the newly opened DTI Trade Office at the Philippine Embassy in Berne and by the Office of the Agriculture Counsellor of the Philippine Mission to the World Trade Organization in coordination with the Philippine Embassy in Berne together with the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and the Philippine Mission to the World Trade Organization.
The webinar Agrinegosyo Para sa mga Overseas Pinoys was the first of a series of webinars to be conducted among various Philippine foreign posts around the globe. The webinar was graced by three Philippine Ambassadors in Switzerland with officials from the member-agencies of the STGA serving as resource persons.
“The webinar provided overseas Filipinos [OFS] and prospective investors [OFIS] with information on starting an agribusiness, identifying investment opportunities, crafting business plans, accessing financing programs, trainings, available technology, and rebuilding network and linkages in all stages of the agriculture value chain,” the statement read.
Agriculture Undersecretary Cheryl Marie Natividad-caballero said during the webinar that the DA would help the OFWS from crafting a business plan, farming technical know-how, accessing available financial resources to market linkages and distribution in pursuing their preferred agribusiness venture.
Trade Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba said the DTI is looking at innovating agriculture and agribusiness through the application of new technologies to improve domestic productivity and competitiveness.
Aldaba cited the DTI’S current Rural Agro-enterprise Partnership for Development and Growth or R APID Project that seeks to promote the growth of four high-value crops, namely, cacao, coconut, coffee and processed fruits and nuts, especially in the Mindanao region.
Aldaba explained that under the RAPID project, the DTI has partnered with academe in Mindanao to assess the current state of technology use and mechanization in cacao and coffee production. The study also seeks the applicability of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, Internet of things and smart agriculture in the production of these high-value commodities.
The DA told the Businessmirror that the STGA has 11 more Agri-negosyo webinars in the pipeline including the upcoming ones in South Korea, China and United States of America.
The webinars being organized by th Da-dti-philippine Embassies are focused on encouraging OFWS that are still abroad or have plans to return to the Philippines to invest in agribusiness. These webinars are different from the Kadiwa Agribiz Webinars being hosted by the DA that caters to the general public.
The Businessmirror earlier published a Broader Look piece exploring the government’s efforts to lure more OFWS to invest in the agriculture sector to boost its productivity and growth. (Related story here:https://businessmirror.com. ph/2021/01/28/foreign-fundsfor-farms-fishponds-fan-faithphl-can-pull-through-pandemic/)
No less than Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar pointed out that Filipinos abroad are “the new breed of ‘agripreneurs’ who will help revive and reboot the countryside.”
The STGA was created last August 13 and is under the Inter-agency Task Group on Food Security chaired by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The DTI sits as the chair of the STGA with the DA as its co-chair while the Department of Science and Technology, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the National Economic and Development Authority as its members.
The DTI noted that the STGA is “critical” in improving the country’s food security and ensuring government support for Filipino farmers, fishers, small and medium entrepreneurs and agripreneurs.