Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 13) — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is preparing to expand the production of durian among other high value crops after the Philippines secured the recent $2 billion fruit export deal with China.
Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said China saw the country as one of the sources they would like to avail the fruit from.
“One of the focal points of the discussion is the durian imports by China all over the world,” Panganiban said in a statement. “We are pinpointed as one of the sources that China would like to avail from and they have allocated $260 million initially to start off the project from the Philippines.”
Panganiban also committed that the Bureau of Plant Industry will provide support in accreditation, Philippine Good Agricultural Practices certification, and protocol implementation.
Regional executive directors are expected to present action plans in the next DA Operations Management Group meeting.
On Jan. 4, the Philippines and China signed the “Protocol of the Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Fresh Durians from the Philippines to China,” which opened up the Chinese market for an estimated 50,000 metric tons of fresh durian.
Initially, durian will be exported from the list of registered farms in major durian production areas of Davao City, Davao del Sur, and North Cotabato.
The DA expects the project to generate at least 10,000 direct and indirect jobs from the bilateral venture.
