Arroyo food program pushed

The director of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) called on all sectors in Mindanao to unite behind President Arroyo’s efforts to bring the country closer to food sufficiency and security by "by keeping the food issue out of the reach of petty local politics."

BPI Director Blo Umpar Adiong, Al Haj issued the call in the wake of reports that some private sector initiatives to help improve farm productivity "might have been caught in the political crossfire in some provinces."

Adiong cited reports that certain groups opposed to biotechnology have destroyed a trial farm in Tampakan, South Cotabato planted with the high-yielding YieldGard corn variety. The destruction took place despite the all-out support of Tampakan Mayor Claudius Barroso to the field tests. The League of Municipalities of South Cotabato has likewise backed Arroyo’s policy adopting biotechnology as a means to achieve food sufficiency.

Provincial officials of South Cotabato, however, are reportedly against the field tests.

Adiong echoed Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor’s assurance that "corn farmers will have the final choice" on the type of seeds they will use even after YieldGard has been approved for commercialization.

Adiong said the private sector initiatives to help improve farm productivity "are vital to Mindanao." He cited the island’s "vast potential to lead the Philippines in the effort to regain its status as a net exporter of staple agricultural products."

He cited the success of Masagana 99, a hybrid rice program implemented by the late former Executive Secretary Rafael Salas during the 1970s. The program resulted in the exportation of rice by the Philippines during that decade.

Adiong was part of the so-called group of "Salas boys" while he was Malacañang technical assistant for Muslim Affairs in the 1960s.

He pointed to the "inherent advantages of Mindanao that can help make it a showcase for the country’s agricultural leap." The land is very fertile and there are almost no typhoons in Mindanao, Adiong said.

The BPI director, a 1982 TOYM awardee for regional development and the first Muslim administrator of the Southern Philippines Development Authority, urged Mindanaoans "to set aside politics and help the President implement her food security strategy." Arroyo earlier adopted biotechnology as a means to help the country achieve food sufficiency.

Biotechnology-processed plants have been developed with natural resistance to specific pests. YieldGard, for example, is naturally resistant to the Asian corn borer, the most prevalent corn pest in Mindanao. Early test results showed local farmers can achieve up to 40 percent higher yield per hectare with radically reduced insecticide application using the biotech variety.

With the recent issuance of the guidelines on plants and plant products derived from modern biotechnology, stringent scientific risk assessment evaluations will be applied. The food and feed industry and the consuming public is rest assured on the safety aspect of the products. The BPI will take the lead in implementing the regulatory system already in place, in close coordination with the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines.

Adiong also said the BPI has activated the National Seed Industry Council, which now has 17 laboratories all over the country. The facilities enable farmers to gain new knowledge on farm techniques and farm economics.