Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

11. STATUS OF PUBLIC RICE BIOTECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND
COMMERCIALIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
INTRODUCTION
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Ronilo A. Beronio
Jane G. Payumo
Rowena Villanueva
Philippine Rice Research Institute
Nueva Ecija
Rice is the most important economic crop in the Philippines, contributing an average of
15.5% to the country’s gross value added in agriculture, 13% to the consumer price index, 3.5%
to the gross domestic product, and 3.3% to the gross national product. As the country’s staple
food, rice accounts for from 35% of the average calorie intake of the population of 82 million to
as high as 60%–65% for households in the lowest income quartile. Average annual rice consumption
has been estimated at 103 kilograms per capita. In recent years, rice sufficiency has
been synonymous with the food security policy (http://www.da.gov.ph). A buffer stock of 60
days’ worth is maintained through import to ensure food security.
The demand for increased rice production is necessary to meet the immediate needs of an
ever-growing population in the midst of a decline in the supply of water for irrigation of rice
fields, a plateau in rice yield, and the prevalence of ever more virulent rice pests and diseases
(Gonzales, 2003).
Modern agricultural biotechnology would seem to offer a solution to these problems. It has
the potential to produce more nutritious, better-tasting, higher-yielding, more pest- and diseaseresistant
rice varieties in a relatively short period of time compared to conventional rice breeding
(PhilRice, 2004). It is one of the strategies that will be used in the next decade to tackle the challenges
of a rapidly increasing population and increased global competition.
For modern agricultural biotechnology to be immediately useful, however, it must be commercialized.
But since modern agricultural biotechnology can be considered intellectual property,
commercialization can only be done within a favorable legal and institutional framework. Further,
because of the possible consequences of biotechnology modernization, products of modern
biotechnology might not be enjoyed fully until uncertainties regarding the risks to human health
and the environment are minimized and managed, if not eliminated. A responsive regulatory
system is therefore also an essential component of this precautionary approach in dealing with
the products of modern agricultural biotechnology.
This paper will discuss the existing legal and institutional frameworks for public modern
agricultural biotechnology research and development (R&D) and commercialization in the
Philippines, with a focus on rice and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
THE EXISTING LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ON PUBLIC RICE
BIOTECHNOLOGY R&D AND COMMERCIALIZATION
The Philippine Constitution states that “science and technology are essential for national
development and progress.” The state is mandated to give priority to research and development,
invention, innovation, and their utilization, to promote science and technology education, training,
and services, and to support indigenous, appropriate, and self-reliant scientific and technological
capabilities and their application to the country’s productive systems and national life.