AGRICULTURE and port modernization are among the investment areas eyed by the Indian nationals in Mindanao.
In a press conference on Wednesday, November 20, Ambassador of India to the Philippines Jaideep Mazumdar bared that during the state visit of Indian President Ram NathKovind last month, among the agreements forged is the development of the agriculture sector especially in Mindanao.
Mazumdar said the agreements include Landbank of the Philippines (LandBank) to use technologies and provide agriculture risk insurance.
He said there was also an agreement to share their technologies in improving the quality of corn seeds, onion, and garlic.
“We have the technologies to replicate them here. Some agreements were signed in setting up a pilot farm in the Mindanao region will really improve your productivity in onion and garlic,” he said.
“Agriculture is one big area where we are looking at in Mindanao region,” he added.
Meanwhile, a leading port operator in India, Adani Ports is also keen on evaluating sea ports in Davao City for potential cooperation and modernization.
“We are developing ports in the east and the west [of India] because a lot of commerce between the east and the west takes place so we look at this convergence points and we will certainly evaluate Davao in the Philippines at large,” chief executive officer of Dhamra Port and Adani Ports SubratTripathy said.
He said Davao ports can be instrumental in fostering trade among ports in other countries especially the members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Adani Ports is running the Mundra port in Kutch district, Gujarat, India’s biggest privately-owned port.
He added they are also operating 10 ports including the largest coal terminal and container terminal in the world.