Bahrain to invest in Philippine farms

Manama : On the occasion of the state visit of President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte to the Kingdom, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in relation to investing in agricultural lands was signed here yesterday.

The MoU was signed between AMA Group Holdings Corporation, represented by Amable R. Aguiluz V, and Nader and Ebrahim Sons of Hassan Company W.L.L., represented by Ebrahim Hassan Mubarak Al Ameer.

“The MoU is in pursuit of the successful venture by RP Bahrain Harvest Inc, in a five hundred (500)–hectare banana plantation in Saranggani in Mindanao. This venture is actually an offshoot of the MoU signed by the governments of the Philippine and the Kingdom of Bahrain on February 4, 2009,” a press statement issued yesterday read.

“The parties agreed to expand their operation in Davao as well as in other regions in Mindanao, targeting 10,000 hectares additional farmland for the production of agricultural crops other than banana such as pineapple and pulses (munggo, lentils, peanuts, etc). This expansion project is aimed at assisting the Philippine government in pursuing its thrust towards economic development in Mindanao.”

“To ensure successful implementation of this expansion project, the parties agreed to acquire, by lease from land owners, an area of ten thousand (10,000) hectares with additional investment of $250 million over three to five years. When operation is full, the total expected volume of production will be 560,000 metric tonnes with export value of $280 million annually. It will employ 40,000 farm workers and 500 back-office support staff.”

“In fulfilment of the parties’ corporate social responsibility, a foundation has been established that holds skills training and skills upgrading programme for workers and their family members, as well as technology transfer that promote environmentally-sound and ecologically-friendly farming and processing techniques, thus producing green jobs for Filipino farm workers,” the statement added.