Pangasinan Agri Officers and Farmers Express Support for Bt Eggplant

Seventeen agriculture officers, local government constituents, and farmers from municipalities of the top eggplant producing province of Pangasinan, Philippines expressed their appreciation of modern biotechnology after learning about its techniques, applications, and products during the Biotechnology 101: Seminar-Workshop and Study Visit on Biotechnology for Crop Improvement.  The seminar-workshop was held at the University of the Philippines Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB)  on 15-17 October 2014. The highlight of the activity was the notable interest of participants in the current status of the commercialization of  Bt eggplant. The participants stated that most of the farmers in their respective areas are patiently waiting for the release of Bt eggplant seeds, and would like to benefit from the said technology.

The participants were briefed on medical biotechnology, global scenario on biotech crops, the science of genetic engineering, food and environmental safety, biosafety regulations in the country, the potential benefits of Bt eggplant, as well as presentations on the Philippine agri-biotech initiatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) and the UPLB-National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.

Laboratory visits and demonstrations on tissue culture and molecular markers were also conducted at IPB. The activity was organized by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII), and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA BIC).

For more information about biotechnology in the Philippines, visit http://www.bic.searca.org/.