Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
AS far back as the previous century, cargo-oriented seaports and airports had been envisioned as vital components of a thriving agriculture sector. The fine print and the spirit of the Agriculture and Fishery Modernization Act (AFMA) in the late 1990s specifically mentioned the need to create special zones for agriculture and fisheries that would be clustered around major seaports and airports. Implied in the plan to create special agri and fishery zones was this: the AFMA would boost agricultural and fishery development to a level that would transform the Philippines into an agricultural export powerhouse. And an export powerhouse precisely needed those cargo-oriented seaports and airports so Philippine producers could easily move their food exports speedily and efficiently into the global market.
My faltering senior memory can still recall the acronym of those planned agri and fishery export zones within the dream of an export powerhouse. They would go by the name of Zopads — Zones of Agriculture and Fishery Development that would be backstopped by cargo-oriented seaports and airports.
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