MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is rushing to meet its food security goal by promoting agricultural biotechnology products like Bt corn, virus-free abaca, disease-resistant eggplant and nutrient-laden rice strains.

Moreover, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap assigned the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) as the lead agency in developing carabaos and livestock that yield more milk and meat for consumers.

PCC will also lead in promoting animal biotechnology products that have been improved to provide the dairy requirements of the Philippine market, which relies heavily on imports from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Aside from these, DA is also seeking to improve on forest biotechnology to develop quick-growing hardwoods and other trees that hold water, check soil erosion and can be used to reforest the country's denuded uplands.

Agriculture is a key economic sector since it employs 37 percent of the country's labor force.

While it has been growing between 3 percent and 4 percent annually, the sector's overall productivity has lagged behind, DA statistics showed.

From the second more productive agricultural sectors in Asia in the 1960s, the Philippines has slid to become one of least productive economies in the region in 2000.

Productivity for both agriculture and fisheries has been low, with little value-added to show due to the minimal application of science and technology (S&T) in the two sectors.

Research also proved that there is a need to modernize agriculture by harnessing better milling equipment, dryers and other post-harvest facilities, improving the supply chain to minimize losses in the supply chain while bombarding farmers and fisherfolk with extension services.

The impulse for all these is the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010, which also calls for the promotion of agribusiness to increase productivity and competitiveness of Philippine agriculture.

MTPDP requires the combination of science and technology and entrepreneurship to boost agriculture and fisheries.

Thus far, advances have been made by the PCC through in-vitro fertilization for better livestock capable of producing more milk and by the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB), which has been conducting studies on virus-resistant crops like tomato, eggplant, and abaca.

The production of biofuels is also another facet of the campaign to boost agriculture and help reduce the country's 94 percent dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Research and development (R&D) on jatropha for biodiesel production is ongoing while work on the possible use of malunggay seeds and barks for biofuel feedstock is being conducted.