ACIAR to provide P78.4M for 9 R&D projects in RP

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has earmarked A$2.9 million (about P78.4 million) to bankroll nine research and development (R&D) projects in the country this year.

A memorandum of subsidiary agreement (MSA) for each R&D project has been formulated and signed by representatives of the Philippine and Australian governments.

Earlier, in 1994, the two governments signed a general agreement on development cooperation (GADC) binding both parties to continuously implement joint R&D projects.

The Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD) and ACIAR were tasked with coordinating, monitoring, and evaluating the projects’ implementation.

Following are the nine new projects approved for 2001 under the ACIAR Special Call for Proposals:

• Improving the efficiency of the agribusiness supply chain and quality management for small agricultural producers in Mindanao.

• Improving and maintaining productivity of bamboo for quality timber and shoots in Australia and the Philippines.

• Development of a diagnostic key for tropical rice disorders.

• Minimizing the offsite impact of pesticides from agricultural systems – a risk-based approach.

•Evaluating biofumigation for soil-borne disease management in tropical vegetable production.

• Bioremediation technology for insecticide residues in horticulture.

• Bovine babesiosis and anaplasmosis in the Philippines.

• Redevelopment of timber industry following extensive land clearing.

• Development of diagnostic and control methodologies for animal Trypanosomiasis in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia.

Eda Camitan-Mosqueda of PCARRD reported that the agencies that will implement the projects are the Department of Agriculture (DA), DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), National Crop Protection Center (NCP), University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), UP Mindanao (UPM), Benguet State University (BSU), and University of Mindanao (UM).

The Australian counterpart project implementers are the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Murdoch University, and Central Queensland University.