In order to reduce the country's trade deficit with the South Asian economy, the Philippines wants to export more agricultural commodities to India. The Philippines and India have renewed their partnership to improve technical cooperation and market access in order to boost food production in both countries.
This followed a bilateral meeting between Agriculture Secretary William Dar and India's Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Dar is currently in New Delhi for the BioAg Asia 2022 conference.
The partnership aims to increase the income of Filipino and Indian farmers while also achieving a more balanced trade of goods.
Dar stated that the Philippines would promote more high-quality export products to India in order to reduce the country's current trade deficit.
In 2021, India exported $450 million in goods to the Philippines while purchasing only $50 million in Filipino goods.
According to Dar, the Philippines will benefit from India's position as one of the world's largest rice producers and exporters. India is also on the cutting edge of the development and commercialization of natural and biological farm inputs.
Furthermore, the agriculture ministers agreed to form a joint technical working group comprised of experts from both countries, tasked with expanding existing collaboration and exploring new areas of collaboration.
Aquaculture and marine, renewable energy, risk reduction management, and natural and biological farm inputs would be prioritized.
India, for its part, has pledged to support initiatives to improve Philippine agriculture by implementing various science-backed projects such as a satellite-based insurance system and soil and water management.
The technical working group will meet several times over the next two months. Tomar also directed that the Indian Council for Agricultural Research extend assistance and ensure that the collaborations are carried out in collaboration with the DA's key technical agencies.
