Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban welcomed Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture (PPSA) Country Director Ma. Angela Bautista, PPSA Partnerships and Engagement Manager Jade Herrera, and PPSA Programs Manager Monica Micaela Milano during their courtesy visit on August 29, 2023.

Led by its new country director, the PPSA team presented to the DA official their flagship programs for agri-food innovation, responsible investing, women empowerment, and climate resilience, among others. They also requested for the DA to continue serving as the PPSA’s public sector co-chair.

The PPSA is a multi-stakeholder partnership platform initiated by Grow Asia, a regional platform for inclusive and sustainable agriculture development in Southeast Asia catalyzed by the World Economic Forum and the ASEAN Secretariat. It was formally launched in 2015 by Grow Asia together with the DA in partnership with local and ang global companies.

The DA and PPSA engagements include the conduct of learning sessions with the DA-Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) and the DA-Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) with value chain players and the conduct of business conference to showcase the DA-PRDP Scale-up and investment components. Upcoming engagements include the DA-Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation Program (F2C2) National Cluster Summit and the DA- Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) 2023 Women’s Dialogue. (text by Gumamela Celes Bejarn, photos by Alan Jacalan/DA-AFID)