LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—The Philippines will continue to be a major recipient of agri-biotech funds under the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II, a program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to boost agricultural production of developing countries.

The assurance was made by Frank Shotkoski, Director of the ABSPII after visiting the facility for the newly transplanted papaya ringspot virus-resistant (PRSV-R) papaya seedlings under confined trial in barangay Paciano Rizal, Bay, Laguna on Sunday.

Dr. Patricio Faylon, executive director of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (Pcarrd) and Dr. Enrico Supangco, Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension of UP Los Baños together with and partner, Dr. Clive James, chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), and Shotkotski led the site inspection.

Shotkoski was impressed by the progress of the PRSV-R papaya project in the Philippines, promising that funding support will continue to pour because of a “job well done.”

James also lauded the PRSV-R papaya project team’s accomplishment, calling it an excellent job so far.

Shotkoski said ABSPII, a 5-year program started in 2002, ended last year. The USAID extended the project this year, with the Philippines being one of the major beneficiaries.

At least $17.5 million was spent from 2002-2007. This year, Shotkoski said the same amount will likely be spent to promote dynamic partnership among funding agencies and research institutions for the development of agro-biotech crops such as the PRSV-R papaya. ABSPII is also supporting the research and development of the Multi Virus-Resistant Tomato (MVR) tomato in the Philippines; late blight-resistant potato in India, Bangladesh and Indonesia; and Drought and Salt-Tolerant Rice, in Indonesia.

According to Dr. Desiree Hautea, transplanting the seedlings for confined trial at a natural environment is considered a milestone as far as the PRSV-R papaya project is concerned.

She is excited because finally, they’ll be able to grow the genetically engineered papaya outside a controlled environment, where they will be exposed to natural environment.

“We will be able to finally see if we have a product,” she said, explaining that the result of the confined trial will determine whether they have really accomplished something in the laboratory.
According to Hautea, they also planted ordinary papaya inside the experimental lot for comparison.

“If those ordinary papaya were infected by the virus, and in the process die and the PRSV-R papaya survive and bear fruits with the desired characteristics, then we can finally say that we succeeded,” she said.
After multilocation field trials, the next step will be commercial release of the first-ever “Pinoy Biotech” crop.

The confined trial will be conducted in a fenced and regulated-access experimental lot previously inspected and approved by the National Biosafety Committee of the Philippines (NCBP), the Bureau of Plant Industry-Plant Quarantine Services (BPI-PQS) and the PLB Institutional Biosafety Committee.

The ABSPII’s PRSV-R Project team led by Hautea started transplanting the genetically-engineered papaya seedlings last February 8, covering 3,500 sq. m. of the 1.2-hectare experimental site, after getting the nod of the National Biosafety Committee of the Philippines (NCBP) last October 13, 2007.

Hautea said the confined field trial will be done under natural conditions to determine and further evaluate the horticultural characteristics of the papaya. Four papaya events were transplanted, from which the team will select the best product with the desired trait in terms of—besides being resistant to the deadly virus—yield, taste, shelf color size of fruit and smell.

The best product, or the best candidate with the most desirable trait will be used for the multilocation field trial. The team is eyeing to conduct the open field trial in Luzon, particularly in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Bicol, and in Bulacan or Pampanga, according to Dr. Pablito Magdalita, a scientist working on the PRSV-R papaya project.

A previous confined trial for the same PRSV-R papaya project was done on February 23, 2007, wherein the resistance to PRSV was evaluated.

According to Hautea, it will take the newly transplanted papaya transformation events, named Event 142, Event 124, and two lines of Event 132 eight months, or until October to start bearing fruit. The products will be ready for harvest in February next year.