Japan to give Philippines agriculture equipment

MANILA, Philippines - Japan will give the Philippines laboratory equipment to improve its capability to determine and measure pesticide residues in crops like fruits and vegetables.

The equipment will be installed at the National Pesticide and Analytical Laboratory in Quezon City and the Satellite Pesticide and Analytical Laboratory in Davao City.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will fund the project under its Japan Food Security Project for Underprivileged Farmers, formerly known as the KR2 Program. 

Last July, Kenji Terada, first secretary of the Japanese embassy, launched the “Upgrading of the Pesticide Residue Laboratories Project,” along with Agriculture Assistant Secretary Paz Benavides and Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries executive director Ariel Cayanan in ceremonies in Quezon City.

Under Japan’s Official Development Assistance, the total fund support for the project is P85,500,000.

The project aims to contribute to food safety in the Philippines and Japan by analyzing pesticide residues in food using new equipment. 

The KR2 Program has been implemented in the Philippines for more than 30 years.

Japan has provided the Philippines with farm inputs worth billions of pesos for this program. The counter-value fund from the KR2 Program has benefited many farm and fishery development projects.