.

By Jonathan L. Mayuga, BusinessMirror via SEAMEO SEARCA

THE government is intensifying research and development (R&D) on several commodities while boosting production of nontraditional agricultural products through biotechnology to help increase farmers income and spur economic growth in the countryside.

Director Alice Ilaga of the Biotechnology Program Office (BPO) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said her office is now conducting an assessment of several R&D programs being pursued by the department.

She said she is pushing for the propagation of superior rice varieties, genetically improved coconut, papaya, abaca and even yeast mixes that will improve the production and recovery of ethanol from sugar cane, sweet sorghum and sweet potato for biofuels.

Ilaga's office has also been tapped to work closely with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in battling the invasive pest Brontispa longissima, the coconut-leaf-eating beetle that threatens the entire coconut industry, through biotechnology, and the indigenous predator earwig, which feasts on Brontispa larvae, according to PCA administrator Oscar Garin.

Ilaga revealed that DA-BPO, with the National Fisheries Research Development Institute, will work on high-yielding and disease-resistant seaweed strains while encouraging the massive cultivation of malunggay, papaya and other fruits that produce active ingredients that are in high demand by cosmetics and pharmaceutical Corporations involved in the natural-ingredients industry.

She said there is a bright prospect for rice biotechnology, with some varieties readied for commercial release.

Among these varieties is the bacterial blight (BB)-resistant hybrid rice, which will most likely be made available next year.

The project, in support to the DA's Hybrid Rice Program, aims to come up with the BB-resistant hybrid rice, which serves as a promising line for the production of BB-resistant Mestizo1, the most widely used hybrid in the Philippines.

According to Ilaga, the project will help address bacterial blight, which affects rice farms in six regions and causing a substantial income loss of P271 million per year.

By 2011, she said, a vitamin-enriched genetically improved rice variety being developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) and known popularly as the Golden Rice will be available commercially.

Golden Rice is regarded as a solution to the chronic malnutrition problem in the country, since it is rich in iron and vitamin A, which are required for rice, salt, flour and other commodities under the Fortification Law.

The DA-BPO is also stepping up the rice-identification project, which will prevent the adulteration of hybrid seeds used by farmers.

According to Ilaga, the Bureau of Plant Industry will use the output of the project for regulatory purposes, seed certification and accreditation.

Aside from coming up with superior rice variety, the DA-BPO is also into rice multiproduct recovery process.
 

Locally developed GM rice acceptable to Filipino farmers, says study

By Jennifer A. Ng, BusinessMirror via SEAMEO SEARCA

Filipino farmers and consumers would most likely accept genetically modified (GM) rice developed locally and which will be commercially available in 2011, according to a study conducted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute and Strive Foundation.

The study disclosed that more farmers are eager to try the new rice variety in the hope of reducing costs and losses caused by pests.

Of the 1,000 farmers and consumers polled, a majority, or 63 percent, accept GM rice in general, while only 5 percent of those asked resisted GM rice. A majority of consumers and farmers polled said GM pest-resistant rice and bio-fortified rice developed locally are acceptable to them.

The respondents were randomly chosen in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, lloilo, Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte.

The study also found that 58 percent of the respondents are willing to plant, buy and sell GM rice. A majority of the respondents said they are willing to plant and buy vitamin A and iron-enriched GM rice varieties and that about half of those surveyed were willing to pay up to a 10-percent increase in the price of GM vitamin A rice.

Most of the respondents, or 85 percent, expressed their desire to know more about rice biotechnology through radio, television and newspapers.

Alicia Ilaga, director of the DA's biotechology program office said she would commit funding for research and development on rice biotechnology because of the encouraging results of the study.

Currently, PhilRice's research project on the "3-in-1" rice funded by DA is gaining headway. Scientists believe that the first GM rice in the Philippines will be commercially available by 2011.

PhilRice's breeding quest for the "3-in-1" rice requires the transfer not only of the beta carotene biosynthesis into the grains of local varieties but the genes for tungro resistance and bacterial blight resistance through conventional breeding technique.

The news item on this page is copyright by the organization where it originated - Fair use notice

Other news from this source