United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials are set to arrive in the country in October for partnership opportunities in the areas of food production and processing, biotechnology, and biofuels.

According to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, the agri-business mission in October is the first that will be held in the Southeast Asia.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack “expressed deep interest over his proposal on possible investments in the biofuels sector, using the Philippines as a staging ground for exports to the region for food and bio-technology,” said Yap who met with Vilsack at the sidelines of President Arroyo’s recent working visit to the United States.

“We highlighted the Philippines ' strategic advantage and proposed to be the regional production and distribution hub for bio-tech and food products,” Yap said.

Josyline Javelosa, Assistant Secretary and Agriculture Attaché in Washington D.C., said although the meeting was originally scheduled to last only 30 minutes, it extended to over an hour because Vilsack was “keenly interested” with the Philippines’ proposals on further strengthening trade and investment ties between the two countries.

Javelosa said Vilsack particularly expressed interest on food distribution and logistics.

Yap told Vilsack that food and logistics is a promising area of collaboration by both the US and Philippine governments and the private sector.

During the meeting, Yap showed Vilsack and his delegation a map of the Philippines to show improvements in transport routes while emphasizing the continuing challenge and need for a good food distribution network to link up the key islands in the country.

Yap also proposed two projects tapping the recently launched G-8 US$20 billion food production fund, in response to Vilsack’s pronouncement that the US is now applying a new framework in addressing global food security by improving farm productivity rather than traditional emergency assistance.

The first project Yap proposed was a US$120-million joint program to be implemented by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on developing and distributing climate-ready seeds for possible funding under the G-8 initiative.

The Philrice and IRRI are presently collaborating on testing and distributing seeds that are, among others, resistant to the salinity in rice production areas near coastal communities that have been saline-invaded or drought-prone areas that will require 30 percent to 40 percent less water than what regular variety rice plants need.