Manila, Philippines – Opponents of biotech crops should not partake of makapuno.

Unknown to them, it was the country’s first modern biotech product, and without it, the country would not have been known as the makapuno capital of the world.

As early as the 1960s, the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (UPCA) in Los Baños, Laguna developed a propagation technique for the product, long before biotechnology was regarded merely as a process for genetic modification (GM).

In recent article, Godfrey P. Roman, a member of the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines (BCP), recalled that biotechnology was used for the propagation of orchids.

By the late 1970s, the same college developed micropropagation techniques for several varieties of banana, which boosted the chances of the industry to increase output.

In 1979, the Marcos administration established the National Institutes of Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology at UP Los Baños to jumpstart research and development (R&D) of various crops durable enough to withstand pests and tropical diseases.

Roman said R&D on biotechnology had been here far longer than in other Asian countries and its first application was in agriculture.

In 1998, Filipino scientists worked on developing delayed ripening papaya to offset post-harvest losses and strengthen the industry. Papaya is regarded as one of the world’s most nutritious fruits.

Today, papaya has been genetically developed to resist pests and diseases and has a longer shelf life, and the work was an all-Filipino effort.

Roman predicted that “the next few years are auspicious times for Philippine agricultural biotechnology.”

“After more than 10 years of research and testing, locally developed biotech crops will be finally delivered to anticipating farmers. The virus-resistant delayed ripening papaya – developed in UPLB and entirely by local talents – is seen to revive the papaya industry in Luzon by addressing persistent production and post-harvest losses,” he added.