Climate change makes agricultural biotechnology more relevant - DA
Koronadal City (19 November) -- Extreme weather triggered by climate change make research and development of more 'superior' crops that grow faster, bigger and produce higher yields, more relevant, an agriculture official disclosed.
Advances in agricultural biotechnology should focus more on the development of climate change-resilient crops to withstand long seasons of drought or severe flooding, says Dir. Alicia Ilaga of the Biotechnology Program Office (BPO) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
To make Philippine farms more resilient to climate change, the government is eyeing the development of drought-resistant and flood-tolerant crops in collaboration with local and foreign research institutes in other countries, Ilaga said.
"The recent typhoons, Ondoy, Pepeng and Ramil, have proven to be disastrous to the agriculture sector because of climate change. That is why the development of climate-ready crops becomes imperative to ensure food security especially for the Philippines which remains vulnerable to changing weather patterns," Ilaga further said.
She said government and private research institutions are fast-tracking research and development of such climate change-resilient rice, corn, and peanut varieties.
Climate-ready crops developed through breeding, biotechnology and selection includes drought-tolerant corn and peanut, as well as flood-resistant rice or rice with submergence tolerance trait.
"Through gene-splicing techniques, scientists are able to combine superior traits of a variety of plants to make superior plant or crop, making them resistant to their natural enemies," she said.
Just recently, the NSIC Rc 194 variety, also known as the Submarino1 rice variety was commercially-released. Submarino 1 has been infused with the flood-tolerant Sub1 gene. The sub1 gene allows it to survive 10-14 days of complete submergence and to renew growth when the water subsides. These seeds are already accredited by the NSIC and the DA is targeting to produce more seed for promotion.
Under favorable conditions, Submarino 1 produces as much as 4.5 metric tons of palay per hectare, higher than the national average of 3.8 MT per hectare, and equaling the performance of IR64 variety. It yields 2.5 MT per hectare in submerged contions.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), as well as the University of the Philippines – Los Banos have been developing several varieties of drought-tolerant and saline-tolerant rice varieties for years, to tailor-fit farms in areas with uniquely different soil and weather conditions. (PIA 12/aca) [top]
