LAOAG CITY (PIA) – The Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss visited Ilocos Norte on September 19 and met Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc to discuss possible partnerships for agriculture and food security in the province.

“As we all know, agriculture and food security are the top priority of the president and according to the governor, this is also an important sector here. We’re looking to identify possible collaboration and partnership in the agricultural sector, more on the production side and making the sector more productive,” said the Israeli ambassador.

Fluss also shared the possibility of introducing different technologies that will help in agriculture processing, post-harvest, and farm-to-market roads.

In a media interview, the Israeli envoy shared that one of the products that they are interested to endeavor is mango production and processing.

In the whole world, Israel is the leading and most advanced country when it comes to agriculture because of its effective leadership and management, making it a model country for developing countries.

“Israel is inviting 500 Filipino interns to come to Israel for an 11-month internship where they work for Israeli farmers. They will work with them five days a week. So they will understand that they are working with the approach of Israeli farmers who are commercial farmers. On the sixth day, it is devoted to learning about agricultural practices,” said Fluss.

Moreover, interns under this program will get an income and in the course of their internship, they are required to come up with a business proposal.

This is part of the vision of the program which is to inculcate an economic and business mindset for agriculture workers.

“This program is led together with TESDA. What we are trying to work with TESDA now is those farmers or interns that when they come back to the Philippines, there will be programs which will help them integrate and become agro-entrepreneurs,” the Israeli ambassador said. (JCR/JNPD/MJTAB PIA Ilocos Norte)