PHL wants investors in soybean industry expansion

The Philippines is trying to attract investors, including Chinese companies, to invest in the soybean expansion project, an official of a new multi-agency government initiative for food security said Monday. “We already sent feelers to some Chinese investors," Marriz Agbon, National Convergence Initiative (NCI) focal chairperson, told reporters on the sidelines of an agriculture investment forum. “We hope to increase production so we can slowly wean the country from [importing] soybeans," Agbon said. In 2009, the Philippines imported from the US about five million metric tons (MT) of soybean meal — the product remaining after extracting the oil from whole soybeans. This year, industry insiders see total imports of soybean meal totaling 1.6 million MT, growing on the back of the pork and poultry sector’s increasing demand for animal feed. The country’s production of soybean meal, however, is “negligible" at less than 1,000 MT annually, government figures show. While the NCI head could not say how much the expansion of soybean production would cost, the government has identified Davao and Cotabato provinces as pilot sites for soybean production. Dr. Rene Rafael Espino, director of the high-value commercial crops program at the Agriculture Department, noted the government is currently crafting a “road map" to increase soybean production. Under the NCI, the departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, and the Agrarian Reform were tasked to pool their resources to develop the country’s agriculture enterprise and agribusiness, as well as the policy framework that will govern them. — JE/DM/VS, GMANews.TV