William Dar As Friend Of SCUs – First Time PH Has A Secretary Of Agriculture Like That!

The image above is from my Windows 10 personal collection of collages. It is appropriate here because the whole country is shown; windows of opportunities for R&D are indicated – and the 2 monitors show WiFi connection. If the digital world is not involved in your R&D, you're out of this world!

I just saw Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie's Facebook sharing of 30 PH State Colleges & Universities, SCUs, signing a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with the Department of Agriculture, DA, for technology generation and commercialization. Applied knowledge for the good of the people, especially the poor farm families.

DA is funding these 8 SUCs for producing commerciable technologies:

Bataan Peninsula State University

Cebu Technological University

Central Luzon State University

Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College

Isabela State University

Tarlac Agricultural University

UP Los Baños

Western Philippine University.

And these 22 SCUs for upgrading their R&D facilities:

Bicol University Guinobatan

Capiz State University

Cavite State University

Central Luzon State University

Central Mindanao University

Isabela State University Cabagan

Isabela State University Echague

Laguna State Polytechnic University Siniloan

Marinduque State College

Mindanao State University General Santos City

Mindanao State University Naawan

Nueva Vizcaya State University

Occidental Mindoro State College

President Ramon Magsaysay State University

President Ramon Magsaysay State University Candelaria

Quirino State University

Romblon State University

Southern Philippines Agri-Business, Marine & Aquatic School of Technology

Tarlac Agricultural University

University of Antique

University of Southern Mindanao

Western Philippines University.

From the Ilocos Region to Southern Mindanao, that is all over the Philippines!

Some 3 months before Manong Willie became Secretary, he wrote "SCUs And Unifying R&D Efforts" First of 2 Parts (09 May 2019, Manila Times, manilatimes.net) saying:

One of my wishes is that in the near future, state colleges and universities (SCUs) would become one of the main pillars for agricultural research and development… complemented with stronger extension programs to transfer (mature) technologies to smallholder farmers and fisherfolk.

Here are 3 pieces of advice for R&D and extension from the Secretary (only the numbering is mine):

(1)   SCUs can take the lead in the research for commodities that still do not have a research institution, like corn, coffee, cacao and other high-value crops that have export potential in raw, semi-processed and finished forms.

(2)   The lack of coordination between industry/business and research institutions also hampers the efforts of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to go into value adding or processing.

(3)   Most smallholder farmers still rely on folk knowledge that can negate the use of high-yielding plant varieties. And since many of them are not reached by extension workers, they end up listening more to salesmen of chemical inputs.

Manong Willie says our national expenditures on R&D are "pathetic figures when compared to our Southeast Asian neighbors." Compare these 2014 Unesco data:

Philippines: $880 million, 0.1% of gross domestic product, GDP.
Singapore: $10 billion; 2.2% of GDP.
Malaysia: $9.7 billion, 1.3% of GDP.

Pathetic!

We have much R&D work to do and the new DA knows and is getting ready with funding!@517