Shalom
Israel Economic Mission in Negros
The Israel Economic Mission, in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel, and with the support of Negros Season of Culture, organized a two-day visit to Bacolod City to meet with sugarcane farmers.
On June 3rd, the Israeli team, headed by His Excellency Ambassador Ilan Fluss, his wife, Madam Gilad Fluss, Ms. Gladys Banigued, Economic Mission Head Tomer Heyvi, and Commercial Officer Darwin Ng, met with Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Lacson. Central to the discussion was the mission’s primary objective of exploring opportunities in Agriculture, Water, and Energy, and identifying how Israeli technologies can improve efficiency, sustainability, and productivity in the sugarcane industry.
The opportunity to export Negros products to Israel was also discussed. Governor Lacson invited Ambassador Fluss and his economic mission team to attend the upcoming Negros Trade Fair in Manila starting September 17.
A meeting on the environment followed, this time with Rafael Coscolluela, Energy and Environmental Consultant to the province. The visiting delegation learned that Negros presents significant potential for solar energy investments. In fact, the province is pursuing a transition to full renewable energy.
But the highlight of the day was the hybrid symposium that introduced Israeli technologies relevant to the sugarcane industry. Participating in the symposium were 50 industry stakeholders representing government, sugarcane farmers associations, sugar mills, and private enterprises.
Meanwhile, five Israeli companies presented their products, among them:
- Netafim, a global leader in drip irrigation technology
- Haifa Group, a world leader in specialty fertilizers
- Phenome Networks, a software solutions provider for plant breeding and variety testing
- Metzer, a developer of innovative drip irrigation systems and irrigation pipes, and
- CropX, a provider of agronomic farm management platform that integrates real-time soil data with AI and machine learning
The following day, June 4, the Israel Economic Mission, through the efforts of Reena Gamboa, President of the Slow Food Movement of Negros, met and interacted with stakeholders of a coffee plantation and an aquaculture farm.
Not to be missed was the visit to the test farm of the Philippine Sugar Research Institute where new hybrid varieties of sugarcane are grown. Farmers who joined the tour shared some concerns about past experiences with drip irrigation technology, particularly related to water quality.
Netafim, the global leader in drip irrigation, committed to return to Negros in late September to meet with a select group of farmers associations and Philsurin to explore how Netafim’s technology can help achieve sugar farming productivity goals.
Article by: Alan Gensoli with Darwin Ng
Photos and video by: Unit A Creatives
