Calata in talks to bring in Israeli agri tech

MANILA, Philippines - Agricultural firm Calata Corp. said it is in talks to bring Israel’s revolutionary and modern agricultural technology to the Philippines.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Calata said its president and chief executive officer Joseph Calata met with Israel Ambassador Menashe Bar On to discuss the possible introduction of modern Israeli agriculture in the country, particularly in planting high value-fruits and vegetables in greenhouse facilities.

Israel has been sharing its expertise in agricultural development with developing countries such as India, Senegal, El Salvador, China and Kazakhstan.

Despite being known for its vast deserts, Israel has introduced successful methods in the field of agriculture such as the use of greenhouses in planting fruits and vegetables under a climate-controlled area, which has provided an environment promoting optimum growth.

Climate-controlled greenhouses will enable the planting of fruits and vegetables to be done continuously throughout the year, thereby multiplying the number of harvests several times compared to conventional planning.

Calata said it intends to initially locate its greenhouse facilities in Central Luzon.

“It is expected that the technology that will soon be introduced shall substantially enable Calata in easily achieving higher and better yields than that which is currently being achieved by other agricultural enterprises in the Philippines,” Calata said.

“With this technological innovation, Calata consistently benefit from the practice of efficient production with higher yields on high quality fruit and vegetable harvest which shall be available for commercial distribution not only in the Philippines but also for export in all parts of the world,” he added.

Calata is also in discussions with several Argentinian companies to form a possible joint venture for large-scale production of corn in the Philippines.