The Department of Agriculture (DA) under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., will be undertaking a three-year Official Development Assistance (ODA) program that seeks to provide guidance to the ten selected machinery manufacturers and fabricators in the country.

Under ODA, the Technology Advice and Solutions from Korea (TASK) will be carried out to aid local Filipino companies in resolving onsite technical difficulties of machineries and other farm facilities.

The initiative is led by the Korea Association of Machinery Industry (KOAMI) with Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative (KAMICO) and DA’s-Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) as implementing partners.

Through TASK, beneficiaries will be upskilled through the technical know-how and experiences of experts from KOAMI, KAMICO and PhilMech.

The TASK members made a courtesy visit to the Department of Agriculture on March 23, 2023 and met with Assistant Secretary Arnel V. de Mesa who stressed that the visit will also be able to establish a strong network for the local manufacturers upon the completion of the TASK.

The meeting particularly focused on the forthcoming visit of the selected 10 local companies to Korea to gain actual experiences and train under different manufacturing companies.

“This undertaking will foster cooperation and collaboration among all players that will ultimately result in a mechanized and modernized Philippine agriculture,” de Mesa said.

The ODA from South Korea is in line with the Philippine’s three-year Agriculture Development Program as DA continues to push for the mechanization of Philippine agriculture to address the gaps in the sector.

During his first State of the Nation Address in July 2022, President Marcos committed to give priority to the improvement and advancement of the agriculture and fishery industries by modernizing food production. ###