Eleven Israeli companies are looking to sell and introduce smart agriculture technologies to the Philippines.

At the Israel Agricultural-Tech Roadshow in Makati City on Thursday, about 100 Philippine-based firms and agri-tech startups joined a business-to-business session with the Israeli companies.

“Some of the companies that have been presenting here today have been here for many years already — so there’s a wide range of companies, but some of them are really new to the market and looking for new opportunities as part of their global expansion,” Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss said in an interview.

The technologies introduced at the roadshow were CropX’s farm management systems, which uses an app capable of tracking multiple farms; Amiad’s automatic, self-cleaning water treatment and filtration solutions; and Foresight’s 3D and multi-camera-based driver assistance systems for agricultural machineries, among others.

The other Israeli firms that presented their innovations and products were Baccara, AgroSheriff’s Agritech, LR Group member Innovative Agro Industry, Gat Fertilizers, Netafim, Reshef Aviation, Plasson Livestock, and Metzer.

Fluss said Israel would work closely with the Philippines in forging possible partnerships, especially on agriculture, describing the sector as a “top priority and a key component” to the two states’ bilateral relations.

“Knowing that Israel is a leader in innovation and in agriculture sector, we want to share this in order really to address a challenge, and to share this ready experience where we took a major challenge of a country (Israel) which more than 50 percent is actually a desert, and turned this challenge to an opportunity for using innovation,” Fluss said.

Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Jerome Oliveros said the agency is hoping to craft with the embassy a “tailor-fit customized program” on agriculture using Israeli technology.

“The partnership between Israel and the Philippines serves as a prime example of the power of collaboration. Israel’s renowned expertise in agricultural technology, combined with the Philippines’ rich biodiversity and agricultural potential, creates a synergy that can yield remarkable results,” he said.

Oliveros said the DA is in talks with the LR Group on vanilla production.

“They were able to produce vanilla in Papua New Guinea in a short period of time like three years as compared to here that for you to be able to produce it, it’s five years,” he said.

Asked if the DA is open to procuring any of the Israeli technologies, Oliveros said the DA would consider it.

“Some magpro-procure tayo, some of those, hopefully, they would be able to provide grants (We have to procure it but hopefully for some they could provide it as grants),” he said.

Oliveros said Manila also recognizes the need to fund research and development in the agri-tech sector, and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to increasing public investment in this area. (PNA)