Even as a farmer's son and an agriculturist, I am the eternal optimist when it comes to PH farming. Above photo is one I took at 6:31 AM on 30 March 2019 at the demo fields on the occasion of the 8th National Rice Technology Forum in Asingan, Pangasinan – I look at both the light and shadow. They are growing hybrid rices, plural. They are growing hopes.
William Dar has just come out with his Manila Times column, "SCUs And Unifying R&D Efforts" Part 1 (09 May 2019, manilatimes.net). The title indirectly points to the lackof united state research & development efforts in the Philippines. Scattered efforts is the way to go if you don't want to go anywhere but there!
The SCUs are the state colleges & universities of the Philippines, all government-funded, and they all carry out R&D activities one way or the other. Which is exactly the problem!
Mr Dar is thinking of, on one hand, the Bureau of Agricultural Research, the BAR, which is under the Department of Agriculture, DA; and on the other hand, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic & Natural Resources Research & Development, PCAARRD, which is under the Department of Science & Technology, DoST. Just reading those 51 words can confuse you!
"Now, the tough question is," Mr Dar asks, "who takes the (aggie R&D) lead in the country so the efforts and resources SCUs invest for research would have an impact?"
I will now list down 10 of our SCUs I know: Benguet State University, Mariano Marcos State University, Pangasinan State University, Isabela State University, Bulacan State University, Central Luzon State University, Pampanga State Agricultural University, Tarlac State University, Batangas State University, Cavite State University, and UP Los Baños – there are actually 114 SCUs according to the Commission on Higher Education, as quoted by Merlina Hernando-Malipot (17 May 2017, Manila Bulletin, news.mb.com.ph).
Back to the question of unifying aggie R&D in this country: Who will lead?
Mr Dar is being diplomatic when he says the BAR and PCAARRD "could share leadership in (aggie R&D) by having a shared research agenda and even control public investments in agricultural research to avoid, among others, duplication and conflict in research efforts."
I see the need for a "research roadmap," an agreed-upon common ground plan of action. Then, he says:
In tandem with extension agencies, the two institutions should also take the lead in putting in place innovation, which should be about "invention + commercialization."
You invent and sell. What do you intend to innovate and commercialize? In R&D, Mr Dar says:
This means a new research paradigm of being "demand-driven" should be put in place, with technologies that have commercial potential getting priority funding for research.
He is referring mostly to high-value crops with export potentials like coffee, cacao, banana and pineapple, corn and sugarcane. Remember, "demand-driven" and not driven by the inertia of centuries.
Me, following all that, I want to point out here our national mistake when it comes to aggie business:
Rice is too much demand-driven!517
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