Israel Embassy in Manila Hosts Roundtable Discussion with Deputy Director for Extension Services of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture

The Israel Embassy in Manila hosted a roundtable discussion entitled “Knowledge Development and Knowledge Transfer” in the fields of Integrated Pest Management and Post-harvest Management for vegetables and fruits led by Deputy Director for Extension Services of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture Mr. Omar Zeidan and Israeli Ambassador Designate H.E. Effie Ben Matityau in the Embassy yesterday.

Mr. Zeidan, a former Director of Israel’s Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CINADCO) which is MASHAV’s implementing agency for agriculture and rural development, specializes in field crops and growing vegetables in open fields and under protected/restricted conditions.

The forum focused on topics such as horticulture and post-harvest. The audience actively engaged in the discussion and shared their points and views on which projects can both countries focus on together. As is well known, Israel is a world leader in intensive agriculture and the techniques, methodologies and protocols needed in order to enhance the productivity of agriculture in the Philippines were discussed at great lengths. This forum was just one of many joint activities planned by the embassy in coming months for the benefit of the Philippines agricultural sector.

In the next few days, Mr. Omar will be accompanied by Amb. Matityau to meet with various officials from government agencies such as the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) with whom he has collaborated with in his upcoming visit to numerous demonstration farms in the northern region. He will also conduct a series of professional lectures on topics such as identifying which factors affect the growing of seedlings, requirements in establishing a nursery and the method of protecting plants from pests.

The discussion was attended by Mr. Omar Zeidan, Deputy Director for Extension Services of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, Israeli Ambassador Designate H.E. Effie Ben Matityau, Israel Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Adam Levene, Philippine Agriculture Journalists and other government agencies.