November 20, 2006

 

China to grow rice and corn in the Philippines

 

 

China is firming up plans to start developing next year 200,000 hectares of farmland in the Philippines for rice and corn production, an investment that would require around 4 billion pesos (US$80 million), Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Monday.

 

The plan is part of a larger body of agricultural agreements to be formalized signed during the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for the 12th Asean Summit, to be held in the Philippines Dec. 11-13, Yap said.

 

Total investment could reach 9 billion pesos, he added.

 

Beidahung Group, the corporate arm of China's Heilongjiang provincial government, is keen on developing 100,000 hectares of land for rice production and another 100,000 hectares for corn, Yap told reporters.

 

A formal letter of intent has already been signed by Beidahung, said Yap, who just returned from a week-long official visit to China.

 

According to Yap, the agriculture department is now in the process of identifying farmlands in northern Luzon that would be devoted to this project.

 

"We would want them to develop new areas as much as possible," Yap said.

 

The PHP4 billion figure was arrived at as the cost of development was around PHP20,000 a hectare.

 

Meanwhile, the agriculture department of Guangxi region in southern China has expressed an intention to develop 40,000 hectares of land in the Philippines for cassava or sugar cane production to make ethanol, a gasoline additive derived from agricultural feedstock, Yap said.

 

"The ethanol will be used in China," he said.

 

Yap said he was also able to obtain from Guangzhou Tianhe Yin Xin Fiber Product Co. a commitment to buy 100,000 tonnes of coconut coir at US$400/tonne.

 

Coconut coir, a fiber with high water holding capacity, is used in China by farmers struggling with parched farmlands.

 

He said the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority is also preparing a three-phase package for the repair, rehabilitation and expansion of Navotas Fishport Complex, to be financed partly by China National Constructional and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corp.

 

Meantime, Philippine tropical fruits would now enjoy market access to China through the Guangzhou Jiangnan Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Co., where 80 percent of China's fresh fruits are traded.

 

Leaders from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand will also join Asean heads of state for the East Asia Summit Dec. 13 in Cebu, the Philippines.