December 2007

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THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Pilot BIOCommerce centers to be established in Butuan and Tarlac

AS its arm in bridging the farmers in the countryside to the biotech companies, BIONet will establish BIO-Commerce centers all over the country.

These BIOCommerce centers will be equipped with information materials on: 1) Production technologies for agricultural, forestry and fisheries products; 2) prevailing market price for in-demand crops; 3) preprocessing technologies for raw materials needed in the natural ingredients industry; 4) advances in biotechnology; 5) agencies supporting biotechnology, and; 6) profiles of biotech companies, among others. Special training, ranging from good agricultural practices to entrepreneurship, as well as business matching, will be the major activities of the center.

       The Caraga Region, through the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit XIII (DA-RFU XIII) launched last October the program “Utanon Kada Balay” (one vegetable in every household).

The program aims to provide vegetable seedlings or planting materials to every household in the region. DA-RFU XIII Regional Executive Director Ricardo Regis is eyeing the distribution of 300,000 malunggay seedlings to 100,000 families.

The Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology (NORMISIST), on the other hand, has been instrumental in the formation of the Caraga High Value Vegetable Cluster (CHVVC) which is recognized by the Regional Development Council and registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Through the NORMISIST Farmers Information and Technology Services Center (FITS), CHVVC was able to access new technologies in papaya production and other high value crops. The CHVVC is ready to expand its planted area should there be a demand for crops by the natural ingredients industry.

BIONet Tarlac was organized in March 2007 and it was agreed upon in a seminar-workshop held in Bacolor, Pampanga that the municipal agricultural offices of Tarlac and Pampanga will establish nurseries for malunggay.

It will be just a matter of time for these two provinces to lead in the production of malunggay powder and malunggay seeds in Luzon.

To address the needs of Caraga and Tarlac in providing a market for the malunggay products, the National Council of BIONet agreed last October 26, 2007 that the pilot BioCommerce centers will be established in Butuan and Tarlac.

As a strategy, BIONet will partner with the NORMISIST-FITS and Tarlac FITS. Negotiations with these FITS center for some terms of reference will commence soon. Should these pilot BIOCommerce centers show promising results in having some positive impact to the community, BIONet will negotiate with the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources (PCARRD) for the utilization of the more than 250 FITS centers in the country as BIONet BIOCommerce centers.

Gaudencio C. Petalcorin, Jr.,Ph.D, Professor, College of Science & Mathematics, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology. Former Vice President for Academic Affairs, Research & Extension, Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science & Technology. Former Consortium Director, Caraga Consortium for Agriculture, Forestry and Resources Research & Development

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