LOS BAÑOS, Laguna - A sugarcane project covering five Asian countries, including the Philippines, continues to achieve significant results.

Called "CFC/ISO/20: Sugarcane Variety Improvement in Southeast Asia and the Pacific," the research, development, and extension (RDE) project also involves Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Funded by the Netherlands-based Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) of the United Nations, CFC/ISO/20 primarily aims to increase sugarcane productivity and help long-term competitiveness of sugarcane in the region through development, dissemination, and adoption of high-yielding, pest-resistant, and ecologically adapted sugarcane varieties.

Endorsed by the International Sugar Organization (ISO) in 2000, the project has the Philippine Sugar Research Institute Foundation, Inc. (Philsurin) as its executing agency. Currently headed by Director General Leon Arceo, Philsurin was established in 1995 through the initiative of the National Council of Sugar Producers to promote the advancement of the Philippine sugar industry.

"CFC/ISO/20 is one of the best run and best implemented sugar projects," CFC representative Eltha Brown said during a recent visit to the Philippines.

Brown and ISO senior economist Lindsay Joly were sent here by ISO and CFC to observe the initial successful accomplishments of the project and its notable impact on sugarcane planters and breeders across the region.

CFC/ISO/20 is one of nine sugarcane projects funded by CFC. It pursues its objectives through regionally coordinated germplasm collection, conservation and evaluation, biotechnology-assisted breeding, and improvement of technical capabilities of national sugarcane-breeding institutions.

While in the Philippines, Brown and Jolly visited the Philsurin experiment station in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, and the University of the Philippines Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB).

The two-person mission was briefed on the germplasm characterization and disease quarantine components of the project by sugar experts of IPB, a co-implementing agency headed by Director Desiree Hautea.

IPB explained that characterization is a vital component of a crop improvement program because it helps to identify outstanding traits present in the germplasm collection.

To date, the Philippines has the most complete and thorough characterization process.