THIRTY-THREE undergraduate students in three state universities and colleges (SUCs) have been selected as members of the pioneering batch of the scholarship program of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Biotechnology Program.
Fifteen students from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, 13 from Central Luzon State University and five from Visayas State University comprise the first batch.
The scholarship program prioritizes students who are taking up agricultural biotechnology and other related fields to promote agricultural biotechnology and assist in multiplying the ingenuity in this field by supporting the education of financially disadvantaged, but intelligent and talented students.
“With the challenges posed by a high population growth rate, changing climate, decreasing production areas and environmental factors that reduce agricultural production, it is imperative to continue to develop a cadre of well-trained and highly productive agricultural scientists to develop technologies that will help increase and sustain agricultural productivity,” Agriculture Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano said.
In the succeeding years, the scholarship program will be offered to more SUCs that are centers of excellence in fields related to agri-biotechnology.
This program also provides research mentorship from the country’s leading scientists in agri-biotechnology in partner-government institutions, including the Philippine Rice Research Institute, the Philippine Carabao Center, and the National Fisheries Research and Development Institution.
The official launch of the scholarship program is part of the opening ceremonies for the National Biotechnology Week (NBW) celebration at the Commission on Higher Education on November 24.
By virtue of Presidential Proclamation 1414, issued in 2007, the Philippines celebrates NBW in order to create sustained public awareness, education and understanding of biotechnology and highlight it as another technology option for achieving and sustaining productivity and growth.
Based on the 2014 DA Biotech Program Review, at least 10 researchers are needed to work per crop, livestock and aquaculture species in order to ensure the timely delivery of much-needed productivity-enhancing technologies of the Applied Biotech Research (ABR) component of the program. Only 62 senior researchers are currently active in conducting ABR projects.
Based on the program’s goals set for the next eight years on priority commodities, the realization of targets would be better achieved with at least 180 researchers involved in the implementation.
The scholarship program also hopes to help address the problem caused by the transfer of trained agricultural scientists to higher-paying jobs offered by private companies.