Chinese ambassador lauds progress of agri technology center, cooperation program

Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian lauded the progress of the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology made in over two decades of technical cooperation programs which have set a good example of the bilateral agricultural cooperation between the two countries.

In a video conference where he inspected the resumption of work at the agricultural center, Ambassador Huang said he appreciated the progress which has contributed to the agricultural development and livelihood improvement in the Philippines.

Ambassador Huang also commended the center’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their efforts to ensure the orderly implementation of the program.

He advised the Center to take a targeted and scientific approach, modify their management strategies in accordance with the evolving pandemic situation, and make every effort to ensure the safety of the staff.

He encouraged them to strictly follow their program plans and promote the production of hybrid rice, so as to help the local farmers lift productivity and incomes.

The Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology-Technical Cooperation Program (Phase III) was launched in October 2018. The Chinese implementing agency is Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd., while the Philippine counterparts are the Department of Agriculture and the Central Luzon State University.

The program has completed training tasks ahead of schedule, providing 1,334 Filipino trainees with the on-site technological trainings such as hybrid rice seeding, cultivation and mechanical transplanting and the activities like Farmer Fields Days.

Meanwhile, the program has established the techno-demo farms with a total area of 34 hectares in the provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Davao Oriental, cultivating five varieties of hybrid rice and achieving a yield 20 percent over the local ones.

It has also built a large-scale hybrid rice-planting demonstration site of 260 hectares and provided the on-site agricultural services for over 730 farming households. So far, it has produced a total of 18,000 hectares of hybrid rice, increased the yield by 21,000 tons and brought benefits to over 9,370 households.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, the Center has put emphasis on the pandemic control and prevention. They have adjusted the working plan, adopted flextime schedules, taken the stringent management over the on-site staff, provided all the staff with sufficient anti-pandemic supplies, and sanitized the site on a daily basis.