TACLOBAN CITY- Leyte Vice Governor Carlo Loreto expressed hope that the modern farming technology used by Israel will also be applied in the country.
Loreto, representing Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, was on a five- day visit to Israel on the invitation of the Israeli government.
One advanced technology of Israel that impressed him most was its ability to plant and produce crops in the desert where people need to dig a kilometer deep down up to Earth’s crust to get water.
The province, Loreto said, could learn how the Israelis know how to maximize the use of water and technology and how they can enhance the environment.
“We can use their practices and discipline in all our areas,” he said noting the poor production in farms because of lack of irrigation.
Leyte, which frequently experiences rains, has abundant supply of water which only needs to be enhanced for more productive farming, Loreto said.
The vice governor noted that years back, several students from the then Visayas State College of Agriculture (VISCA) in Baybay City were trained and schooled as scholars in Israel and eventually found job abroad.
“These scholars, after training in Israel, found jobs abroad because the province of Leyte could not absorb them for their livelihood,” Loreto disclosed regretful that the province failed to tap the capabilities and technical know-how of the on-the-job trainees in Israel in the aspect of agriculture and economics.
Loreto disclosed of a plan to invite Israeli experts on agriculture and economics to the province although details of it are still being worked out.
In 1947, the Philippines was the only nation which voted for the statehood of Israel during the deliberation in the United Nations.
(EILEEN N. BALLESTEROS)
