08 June 2021, Philippines – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of the Republic of Korea, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) have launched today an initiative aimed at strengthening the Philippines’ rice value chains and help boost the productivity of smallholder Filipino rice farmers. 

In a virtual inception workshop, FAO, MAFRA and Philippine project partners launched and discussed ways forward for the implementation in the country of the “Capacity Development and Experience sharing for Rice Value Chains through South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC)”, a global initiative funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea through MAFRA. 

Through the project, FAO seeks to build and capitalize on the unique strengths and experiences of the rice sectors of the participating countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, and the Philippines – and provide a venue for knowledge exchange. 

The local capacities of research and training institutions of the current participating countries will be strengthened and an enabling environment created to help boost agricultural productivity and sustainability of the participating countries’ rice sectors. The documented experiences and good practices can then also be shared to other rice-producing countries facilitated by SSTC.

This is the second phase of the five-year project that started in 2014 in which experts from the Republic of Korea have shared their knowledge and technologies with local farmers in Africa and Asia within the SSTC framework.

For the Philippine component of the project, FAO will be partnering with the Department of Agrticulture (DA), the Philippine Rice Research Institute, and other key academic and research and development entities involved in the advancement of the country’s rice sector.

The Philippines has robust experience and extensive expertise in all aspects of the rice value chain from farm to table, which provides an excellent opportunity to generate SSTC partnership with the Republic of Korea. Through the SSTC partnership, the country will also contribute to promoting experiences and lessons learnt amongst the beneficiary countries. 

“As a country where rice forms a part of its cultural foundation, the Korean Government has put much effort into developing its rice industry. I believe that the Philippines shares similar perspective towards rice as that of Korea,”. Says Namgeun, Song, Director of the General Division for International Cooperation of MAFRA.  

“I believe this project is very timely and important, as it aims to develop capacity for rice value chains. I am convinced that the Philippines can move one step forward, by sharing expertise and experience with other countries which are quite successfully addressing climate change and food security,” Director Song added.

“Presented with myriad challenges that has plagued the Philippines’ agriculture sector for the past years such as low productivity and a lack of value-adding rural enterprises, the national government, through the DA, has embarked on strategic interventions to address these barriers that are now bearing fruit,” says DA Secretary William Dar.

“Filipino farmers are now seeing additional harvests of 400 kg per hectare. In all, local farmers produced 19.4 million metric tonnes of rice in 2020, the highest volume of production the country has achieved in years, this despite a series of natural disasters such as typhoons, a volcanic eruption, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” he highlighted.

“These accomplishments are the product of broad consultations and support from the private sector and from allies abroad such as FAO and the Republic of Korea. Our task today is to ensure the continued success of our agenda and partnership within a framework of collaboration and exchange such as through this project,” Secretary Dar concluded.

FAO has played a pioneering role in championing SSTC, investing more than $370 million in related projects and activities during the past two decades. 

The successful introduction in many countries of new technologies and knowledge sharing through SSTC  is directly contributing towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture).