PRESS RELEASE
PR-117-2023
(16 October 2023, Singapore) The Philippine Embassy in Singapore, led by Ambassador Medardo G. Macaraig, joined Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban and other DA officials, for a briefing and tour of Republic Polytechnic’s (RP) “The Greenhouse” facility on 09 October 2023.
The Greenhouse, launched in 2022, is an educational facility for agriculture-related training programmes housed in RP. The facility is also used by Pre-Employment Training and Continuing Education and Training students. The learnings and technologies being developed in RP are in support of Singapore’s “30 by 30” movement, which aims to enhance the ability of the city-state’s agri-food industry to produce 30% of its nutritional needs by the year 2030.
Powered by a building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system, the Greenhouse is capable of monitoring the atmospheric data in the environment and managing the temperature inside the facility to support plant growth. Among the technologies featured during the tour are advanced aeroponic and hydroponic systems for growing plants and crops. One of the studies being undertaken at the facility is the heat and drought tolerance of vegetables to create seedlings that would be capable of thriving in harsh conditions. They are also conducting tests on growing rice without the use of traditional farmlands by placing them in green house rolling benches.
Senior Undersecretary Panganiban shared the instructions given to him by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr, concurrently the Philippines Agriculture Secretary, to seek opportunities for international collaborations, and learn about the above technologies and their application to the Philippine setting to address its food security issues.
Republic Polytechnic, established in 2002, offers the most extensive educational programs on agriculture and fishery in Singapore. It expressed its wish to undertake projects with the Philippines in the field of agri-tech, among others, in the future. END
