On its 35th anniversary last November 9 at Intercontinental Manila, PCARRD honored three of its partners for their support and contribution to Councilís banner programs.

The awarding was conducted in line with its anniversary theme of ìStrategic Alliances and Focused S&T (science and technology) for Competitive AFNR (agriculture, forestry and natural resources) Products and Services.î

Leading these awardees was the Hon. Romulo L. Leading the awardees was Hon. Romulo L. Neri, chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), whose vision of empowering rural communities paved way for the inclusion of the Techno Gabay Program (TGP) in the Philippine Medium Term Development Plan. The inclusion of TGP in the plan institutionalized it both in the local and national levels.

Another recipient was the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). ISAAA is a not-for-profit organization that delivers the benefits of new agricultural biotechnologies to the poor in developing countries. It aims to share powerful technologies to those who stand to benefit from them and at the same time establish an enabling environment for their safe use.
ISAAAís vision brokered gene technologies between PCARRD and technology owners, which fast-tracked the transformation works in papaya and sweetpotato.

PCARRD also showed its appreciation to the efforts of the local government unit (LGU) of Balungao, Pangasinan. Its partnership with the Council helped increase interest on goat raising in the country, thus providing livelihood and income to thousands of rural people.

Awarding PCARRDís partners were Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro, and PCARRD Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon.