Cognizant of the importance of plant genetic resources (PGR) to the Philippines as an agricultural country, PCARRD has allocated a total of P7.8M for crop-related PGR initiatives in 2008. This development affirms PGR conservation and management’s priority status to the Los Baños-based Council.

On capability building, PCARRD allocated a total of P2.8 million (M). The amount will cover the rehabilitation of the facilities of the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños that were damaged by typhoon ‘Milenyo’ in September 2006 (P1M), while P1.5M will be used to regenerate seed collections and rehabilitate and rejuvenate the germplasm in its field genebank. NPGRL serves as the national repository of PGR in the country. On the other hand, P300,000 was allocated for two nondegree trainings on PGR this year. For the past three years, 75 researchers have benefited from this initiative, 19 of which were trained in 2008. Another training-workshop will be conducted in July 2008, this time focusing on germplasm valuation. Fifty participants are expected to attend.

On research and development (R&D), PCARRD is supporting three ongoing PGR projects being implemented by nine different state universities, agencies of the Department of Agriculture, and one private foundation, with a combined funding for 2008 amounting to P4M. These projects include the conservation and utilization of tropical fruits; collection, regeneration, and re-introduction to the environment of indigenous orchids; multilocation trials of abaca varieties; and collection, evaluation, and utilization of various crops with local and international market potentials. The latter is a collaborative project involving the private sector as implementer, the Mama Sita Foundation, Inc.

Four new projects are being packaged, with total budget amounting to P7M, which will form part of the National R&D Program on PGR.