The Embassy of Israel in the Philippines and the Israel Economic Commercial Mission to the Philippines, in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Dairy Authority (NDA), signed the joint declaration for mutual relationship and assistance in developing the dairy sector in the Philippines. DA Secretary William Dar and Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss signed the said joint declaration.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Ilan Fluss shared, “We aim to introduce smart and precision agriculture while using Israeli technology adjusted to local conditions to address the local challenges. Signing the joint declaration is a strong signal that MASHAV, Israel’s agency for development cooperation, will be happy to support the Philippines through technical assistance and capacity building programs especially in the dairy industry.”
The signing was followed by a virtual event entitled, “Philippine – Israel Dairy Business Forum: Ramping Up the Milk Production to Meet Local Demands.”
According to Tomer Heyvi, head of the Economic Mission of Israel, the event aimed to share best practices from Israel’s advanced dairy industry, to discuss the challenges of the sector in the Philippines, and to introduce leading technologies to increase farm productivity.
“Israel is a model to us. The Philippine government is eager to learn from Israel’s best dairy practices, we want to know more about the technologies. We have also watched with great interest the progress of the joint dairy projects between Israel and Vietnam, and we wish to learn as much in the Philippines. I trust the joint declaration is only the first step to continuing mutual relationship and assistance,” Secretary Dar said.
Deputy Administrator Dr. Farrell Benjelix Magtoto of the National Dairy Authority shared that the proposed 2020 to 2025 Dairy Road Map-One Dairy Revolution will increase the herd and improve productivity to provide milk for Filipino children and bolster against the war of malnutrition and poverty.
Ariane Blancia, Commercial Officer and Sector Lead for Agrotechnologies gave an overview about Israel’s dairy industry. She shared that 1.5 billion liters of cow milk were produced in 2020, and that Kibbutz and the Moshav account for 83 percent of the country’s dairy and other agricultural produce.
“There are many reasons why Israeli Holstein cow is a world leader in milk yields, but the real answer lies actually in the combination of the unique method of production and quotas, heat stress management, breeding among others that are used in Israel to manage and improve the dairy herd,” Blancia said.
A study case highlighting Dairy Fresh Asia’s project in Vietnam was shared by Gonen Harel, its co-founder and Chief Dairy Expert, and Ran Leitman, its co-founder and CEO. He mentioned that this year, they hope to build a demo farm that can help change the dairy industry and its scale in the Philippines by training the local workforce and blending it with Israeli technologies that have proven its success in Vietnam.
Dr. William Medrano, Undersecretary for Livestock of DA, shared in his closing remarks, “I totally agree with Ambassador Fluss that we really need to encourage all [Israeli] companies to come to the Philippines and establish their local entity, link with local partners, and interested investors to develop local milk industry. And with all the presentations I have watched, these are all technologies that can be adopted in the Philippines.”
Yoray Ofek, President of the Israel Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, mentioned in his recorded video that the presentations of the Israeli technologies are very informative and the webinar serves as an opportunity to start the collaboration between the dairy farms in the Philippines and Israeli companies.
Israeli companies with leading dairy technologies in herd management, breeding and artificial insemination, milk equipment, and complementary technology also presented during the event.
SOURCE: https://www.da.gov.ph/
