The Philippines' biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agribusiness and food is being geared to ensure the country's development of an efficient and competitive supply chain.

A huge and complete assembly of agribusiness and food products, services, systems, and technologies from all over the world are now vigorously being prepared for that purpose through Agrilink/Foodlink 2005, which will be staged at the World Trade Center Manila on Oct. 6 to 8.

Agrilink/Foodlink 2005 will thus enable all the members of the local agriculture and food industry - from big business to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and all the way down to micro-enterprises - to avail themselves of the best technologies, best practices, and best possible partners for their operations, according to the Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development (FRLD), the event organizer.

Co-organizing Agrilink and Foodlink with the FRLD are more than 20 national industry associations, who find it necessary for the entire supply chain to be efficient in order to make the country's products competitive in the local and global markets.

"This means every industry player, whether big or small, must strive to attain all the required operating efficiencies for optimum quality, productivity and price-competitiveness along every segment of the supply chain," said FRLD president Antonio V. Roces.

"That's the only way we can ensure that all the products and services that go to the end-consumers are of the best quality and price," Roces added.

"In raising the quality and lowering the price of meat, for example, efficiency does not start and end with the livestock and poultry raisers. It must include the seed producers, grains farmers, fertilizer and pesticides manufacturers, truckers, corn millers, shipping companies, grains handlers, feed mills, feeds distributors, animal nutrition firms, livestock and poultry raisers, meat processors, retailers, and all their suppliers of equipment and supplies, who all contribute to the quality and price of the final product," Roces explained.

Such is the reason why hundreds of exhibitors from all the segments and sectors of the local and global supply chain are participating in Agrilink/Foodlink 2005, which will include technology seminars, products and services exhibition and demonstrations, and business presentations, among many others.

The exhibitors include poul-try/livestock and bulk grain handling equipment supplier Belmont, coal briquette distributor Rock Energy Int'l Corp., superior pig breeds producer PIC Philip-pines Inc., animal nutrition firm Rechemco Phils. Inc., agribusiness marketing company ART Inc., veterinary products distributor Agfield International Corp., milk processing equipment manufacturer Elecrem of France, feedmill equipment and assemblies provider and installer Stolz Sequipag, French-based poultry and duck breeder Bayle S.A., health-related products importer and retailer THMJ Marketing, Tefal cookware and Rowenta appliance Philip-pine distributor Rustan Marketing Corp., and cookbooks publisher and imported books distributor WS Pacific Publications Inc., among many others.

Joining them at Agrilink/Food-link 2005 are hundreds of other local and foreign exhibitors offer-ing state-of-the-art agribusiness and food products and services, including new technologies, marketing prospects, and many other business opportunities.

Inquiries and/or reservations can be made with FRLD (tel. 8384549, 8384852; or email frld@pldtdsl.net, or website www.frld.org/agrilink).

Also supporting Agrilink/Foodlink 2005 are the Department of Agriculture and the National Fishery and Agricultural Council.