South Korea tapped to help develop PHL agriculture machinery industry

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday that South Korea has offered a three-year official development assistance program to help develop the Philippines’ agricultural machinery industry.

“This undertaking will… ultimately result in a mechanized and modernized Philippine agriculture,” DA Assistant Secretary Arnel V. de Mesa said in a statement.

According to the DA, the Technology Advice and Solutions from Korea (TASK) program will assist Philippine companies in “resolving onsite technical difficulties of machinery and other farm facilities.”

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) will work with the Korean Association of Machinery Industry (KOAMI) and Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative (KAMICO) to implement the project.

“Through TASK, beneficiaries will be upskilled through the technical know-how and experience shared by experts from KOAMI, KAMICO, and PHilMech,” the DA said.

Ten selected machinery manufacturers and fabricators will be sent to South Korea to be trained by various manufacturing companies.

The companies are ACT Machineries and Metalcraft, Inc., Bestmark Agro-Industrial Manufacturing, Brixton Construction and Industrial Corp., Central Isabela Agri Manufacturing Corp., JHT Micro Enterprises;

Machine Systems Corp., Mariñas Technologies, Inc., Noly S. Hontarciego Metalcraft, Triple J, and VAL Agri Machineries and Machine Shop. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera