An agricultural internship program between Taiwan and the Philippines yesterday began, with 50 farmers expected to be sent to Taiwan for one year after completing a basic Mandarin course.
“The internship program is the first between the Philippines and Taiwan,” Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairman Angelito Banayo said.
The program “is expected to further deepen the pragmatic relations between the Philippines and Taiwan, especially at a time when exchanges between most countries in the world are greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Banayo said.
The program fulfills a memorandum of understanding signed between MECO and its counterpart in the Philippines, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), in Manila late last year.
In the Philippines, 50 young male and female farmers from across the nation participated in an orientation program for the project and are to start their basic Mandarin classes online today, in preparation for their deployment to Taiwan in June.
The Mandarin classes are to be facilitated by TECO.
“Thank you for the opportunity of this internship. It gives us a chance to serve our country through food production,” said Rendale Ragas, one of the interns.
After arriving in Taiwan, the interns are to be accommodated in housing or facilities prepared by host farmers, and learn about local farming skills and technologies through classroom and field work, including crop planting and animal husbandry.
The interns are expected to stay in Taiwan for one year and are to receive allowances from their hosts throughout their stay.
Banayo said he believed the interns would learn a lot in Taiwan, praising the nation for being able to export excellent produce, despite the limited available arable land.
The farmers, selected by Philippine agriculture authorities, were supposed to depart for Taiwan last month, but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan and the Philippines enjoy healthy cooperation in the agricultural sector. Aside from educational exchanges, agricultural cooperation meetings have been held annually between high-level officials from the two sides since 2005.
In July 2019, a demonstration mushroom farm was established in the northern Philippines as a result of bilateral cooperation to teach local farmers mushroom cultivation skills and explore export opportunities for Taiwan’s agricultural equipment and materials.
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