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By Katrice R. Jalbuena, Reporter
Australia has hiked its official assistance funds to the Philippines
to P4.4 billion for the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year, the top Australian
envoy to Manila said Friday.
Canberra’s new aid package for
the Philippines, an increase of nearly 9 percent over the previous
year, has helped Australia become the country’s number two aid
donor next to Japan, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod
Smith said.
The Australian government also
granted P444.6 million for two programs that aim to improve the
domestic profitability and export competitiveness of selected
vegetables and fruits planted in the southern part of the country.
“This is part of a
long-standing collaboration of Filipino and Australian researchers
in the development and improvement of new and existing technologies
for various vegetables and fruits commodities,” Australian
Ambassador Rod Smith said, adding the programs can help alleviate
poverty in the countryside where most people depend on agriculture.
Australia will also increase its
support to the Philippine government’s infrastructure initiatives
and provide over P425 million to help upgrade and maintain critical
road infrastructure at the national and local levels.
Through the Australian Center for
International Agricultural Research, the Australian government
signed a Memorandum of Subsidiary Arrangement with the Philippine
Government for a P444.6-million for two programs, one focused on
vegetable crops and the other on fruits.
About P254 million will be
allocated for a four-year vegetable value chain program, to be
managed by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.
The project aims to develop
integrated soil and crop nutrient management in vegetable crops in
the southern Philippines and Australia.
The program will look into
developing a cost-effective protected vegetable cropping system, in
the high rainfall areas of Leyte and Mindanao, to produce high value
crops in the wet season when prices are high. These systems will
also be modified for use in Australia.
Fruit growing improvement program
The other project is a
P190-million fruit value-chain program to be managed by the
Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.
The program is to be implemented
over the next four years in Leyte, Northern Mindanao/Cagayan de Oro,
and Southern Mindanao/Davao. This program aims to improve domestic
profitability and export competitiveness of the following fruits:
mango, papaya, durian and jackfruit.
Smith signed the program
agreement with Dr. Patricio Faylon of the Philippine Council for
Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources and Development, an
attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology.
“Australia has long been a
strong development partner of the Philippines, with our development
cooperation program going back to the 1950s,” said Smith.
Aid from Australia has amounted
to about P21 billion in the past decade covering the areas of
education and training, human resource development, health, rural
development, community development, governance, assistance to
vulnerable groups, infrastructure, and support to the Mindanao peace
and development process.
--With Xinhua
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