THE Project Uitzending Managers (PUM) in the Netherlands has expressed optimism that it can help stimulate development in Negros Occidental particularly on the province's agriculture sector mainly through continuous sharing of expertise and experiences.
PUM Netherlands is a non-government organization composed of about 2,000 senior experts providing knowledge and expertise, on a voluntary basis, in 50 sectors of the economy.
Founded in 1978 by the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers and Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has been working on assisting people in developing countries like Philippines for more than 30 years now.
PUM representatives and their counterpart in the Philippines are currently in Bacolod City for the two-day country team meeting held at Sugarland Hotel starting on Friday.
Its country coordinator for the Philippines Maria de Guia told SunStar Bacolod that seeing the province’s potential in terms of agriculture they can help stimulate growth in the industry especially on various sectors like horticulture, farm product development, animal production, and food processing, among others.
De Guia, the first Filipino country coordinator of PUM, said the province also has interesting developments in tourism and information and communications technology (ICT).
On Thursday, prior to their country team meeting, the group met with former governor Rafael Coscolluela, who is now the provincial consultant on investment promotions, export, and trade development.
During the meeting, Coscolluela introduced to them what is happening in the province including the developments and plans on how to spur positive change in the economy.
“We also talked about agrarian reform beneficiaries, mainly grouping them together and make a project proposal,” De Guia said.
Currently, PUM has no existing project yet in Negros Occidental.
Though, a senior expert is coming in the province in the next two weeks to train local butchers specifically of lamb.
De Guia said they are depending on what proposal they will receive so they can give the necessary expertise needed.
“The proposal should come from the private enterprise in the province, not from the provincial government,” she said, adding that “what the latter can do is disseminate information and link these enterprises to PUM.”
The PUM country coordinator stressed that “Negros Occidental really has huge potential. It has to strengthen collaboration with the private sector especially the sense of sharing expertise, experiences and knowledge.
Meanwhile, also attending the country team meeting are PUM project officer Kim Nagtegaal and regional coordinator for Asia Janneke Janssen.
The group of PUM local representatives is composed of Mary Ann Colmenares of Negros Occidental, Dante Muyco of Davao City, Lords Enjambre of Cagayan de Oro, Justin Ramas of Cebu, and Maria Luz Alvarez-Enriquez of Metro Manila.
The conference held every two years is aimed at meeting local representatives “to give them support, monitor the projects that have been done, and give them inspiration and encouragement to look for more projects appropriate in their own region.”
“It is very important that everybody has their own experience and through the experience of one another then we learn a lot making our job better and effective,” the country coordinator noted.
For her part, Colmenares said she is pushing for the development of horticulture in Negros Occidental.
Colmenares, who is the chairman of the Provincial Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) Council, said the province is currently exporting flowers from Luzon including Baguio City and Benguet.
“Why not grow our own. With the technology of Dutch experts, we are really capable of developing our horticulture industry,” she said, adding that among the proposals she is presenting during the meeting include SME and livestock development as well as meat processing.