Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: October 08, 2017
By: Rina Jimenez-David – @inquirerdotnet

Just to illustrate how close Taiwan is as our neighbor to the north, residents of Batanes, our northernmost province, can receive radio broadcasts from the island at any time of the day.

But as far as Lito Banayo is concerned, the relationship should go way beyond the geographical. Banayo heads the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, and while a lot of Meco’s concerns center on looking after Filipinos living and working in or just visiting Taiwan, his vision encompasses establishing a stronger and more rewarding relationship between the Philippines and Taiwan.

At a recent lunch, Banayo outlined his plans for his term as Meco chair. Among these plans is building on Taiwan’s strengths in agribusiness, including bringing in Taiwanese agriculturists and farmers for some “technology sharing” with Filipino farmers. Any visitor to Taiwan cannot but be impressed with the quality and quantity of its produce, from vegetables to fruits and even livestock and seafood. This is because, said Banayo, after widespread land reform granted Taiwanese farmers ownership of farm land, “the government did not just abandon them to their own devices.” Instead, farmers were provided training in the latest agricultural developments, access to credit and supplies, and support in transporting and marketing their products. In short, everything that people, especially government officials, have been saying Filipino farmers need but never got around to seriously providing.    [FULL  STORY]