Biotech Updates

ISAAA and SEARCA Continue 20-Year Commitment for Agri-Biotech in Southeast Asia

March 4, 2020

ISAAA and SEARCA renew 20-year partnership to promote biotechnology in Southeast Asia. The MOA signing was led by SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio and ISAAA SEAsia Center Director Dr. Rhodora Aldemita (seated from L-R). Also present during the signing were Mr. Jerome C. Barradas, SEARCA BIC Special Projects Coordinator and Mr. Joselito G. Florendo, SEARCA Deputy Director for Administration (standing from L-R).

Fully committed to continuing the delivery of credible, science-based information on agricultural biotechnology for Southeast Asia, ISAAA and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) renewed their 20-year partnership for the Philippine's Biotechnology Information Center (BIC) through a Memorandum of Agreement signed on 21 February 2020.

"Researchers have developed a lot of technologies aimed at boosting farm productivity, meeting the challenges in food security, and improving the lives of farmers. The use of biotech crops is one solution that science offers us. SEARCA stands by its long commitment to help farmers understand the science and enable them to make well-informed decisions about these technologies," SEARCA Director Glenn B. Gregorio says.

In September 2000, SEARCA and ISAAA jointly established the SEARCA BIC to actively reach out to various stakeholders from different sectors of society in the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region through different knowledge sharing and capacity building initiatives to create an enabling environment that will unleash the potential of biotechnology for agricultural development.

"SEARCA is one of our active collaborators in the region and we are very pleased that we are continuing our joint knowledge sharing initiatives that would hopefully lead to maximizing the potential of biotechnology to benefit various stakeholders, particularly resource-poor farmers in developing countries," says Dr. Rhodora R. Aldemita, Director of the ISAAA SEAsiaCenter and Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology.

SEARCA BIC is part of ISAAA's global network of BICs which respond to information needs, promote and advance a broader public understanding of crop biotechnology, and monitor the local agri-biotech environment.

For more updates about biotech development in the Philippines, visit the SEARCA BIC website.

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