The Japanese government has signed a PHP14.48 million grant to help commercialize strawberry cultivation in a village in Silay City, Negros Occidental.

The grant contract, signed by Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa on March 14, would lay out an income option for the residents of Barangay Patag by using Japan’s strawberry cultivation technology and expertise in farm operations.

The program will be implemented by Japanese non-government organization Ikaw-Ako.

“Japan believes that this project will not only strengthen the friendship between the peoples of the Philippines and Japan but also bolster the existing strategic partnership between the two countries,” the Embassy said in a March 15 statement.

The funding is part of Japan’s 20-year old grant assistance for Japanese NGO projects that started in 2002.

Since then, the Embassy said Tokyo has signed 57 grant contracts, amounting to JPY1.5 billion (approximately PHP676.9 million) in total.

Source: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1169822