THE biotech field isn’t about to panic about declining food production, putting its bets on the wonders of technology to solve problems that are hindering the larger agricultural production.

The biotech unit of the Department of Agriculture recently reported that the food industry can be expected to carve about $200 billion every year in biotech products, and is expected to grow 20 percent a year as the demand for biotech food products rises.

“There’s a greater awareness today on the commercial potentials of biotechnology compared with when we started four years ago,” said Hybridigm Consulting Inc. chief executive Maoi G. Arroyo at the three-day conference that Hybridigm organized and which closed at the weekend.

Biotechnology is the broad term describing the use of scientific, lab-based biological research to improve or innovate for industry, commerce and agriculture.

Arroyo acknowledged that the term continues to have negative connotations, linked as it is with the tinkering of genes as in producing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), whose safety for human consumption is hotly debated.

She said, however, that there has been improvement in the way people view biotech. “There is more openness, especially among investors, to bring to the market these scientific breakthroughs.”

Arroyo cited several prototypes of biotechnology products conceived by university students. Telecom firm Smart Communications Inc. funded research on the item by Ateneo de Manila University students.

One prototype also from Ateneo is a process for rapid detection of tuberculosis. Crafted by four students, the process is also less expensive at P34.34 for a test compared to the high-end process of P2,044.

For agricultural applications, Alicia Ilaga of the Department of Agriculture’s biotechnology program said the potential market is estimated to be about $675 billion every year, which she said was the 2003 estimate, the latest available. That year, she said, the sale of biotechnology products in the heatlh and wellness industry reached $200 billion. A department study showed this could hit $1 trillion within the next 10 years.

“The summit emphasizes that we should look at our own resources: we have 1,500 medicinal plants that we can harness and bring to market,” said Arroyo, adding that instead of cranberry juice and apple juice, Filipinos should look at these available resources. “We don’t have the right to remain poor.”

For instance, Arroyo said that instead of focusing on jathropa, “which is toxic and monopurposive,” the Philippines could look at the malunggay (Moringa oleifera Lam. or horseradish tree) plant.

Aside from the oil from its seeds, the leaves could also be used to make noodles and pan de sal. The investment for extractor and drying equipment, she said, could be below P250,000.

The company Secura International Corp. is expected to gross P60 billion from the sale of biotechnology products from each of the 20 sites in the country’s poorest provinces.

Arroyo said, “Eventually, we should see ourselves selling not only freeze-dried beans but also value-added crops. Should we wait for foreigners to earn from our resources? I don’t think so."