Philippine Agric Undersecretary Counts on Biotech in Mitigating Water and Energy Crises

In a keynote speech at the recently concluded conference of the Federation of Crop Science Societies of the Philippines, the Philippine Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo R. Serrano expressed his support to the use of biotechnology to nearly 300 crop scientists and members of the academe. "Biotechnology is one of the emerging technologies which the Philippine government supports to develop a new platform of technologies in meeting these challenges of water and energy crises. The Philippines is the only country in the Southeast Asia with an established and functional biotechnology regulatory system, and this will pave the way for the commercialization of biotechnology products that can help in meeting these challenges" , he said. Usec Serrano added that the Department of Agriculture will continuously support biotechnology research, development and extension efforts to attain food sufficiency and improve health and well being of the Filipinos.

In addition, Dr. Antonio C. Laurena of University of the Philippines Los Banos Institute of Plant Breeding shared the current research and development initiatives in biotechnology which are aimed in meeting water and energy crises. These include drought-tolerant crops such as rice, corn, wheat and sugarcane, as well as genetically engineered biofuel feedstocks as one option in boosting biofuel production.

For additional information about biotech updates in the Philippines, visit http://www.bic.searca.org or send an email to bic@agri.searca.org