Los Baños, Laguna—Filipino experts are collaborating with their Asian counterparts to come out with a climate-resilient seed system in the country.
Filipino research scientists are collaborating with other South Asian and Southeast Region experts to produce not just quality seeds but climate-resilient as well, according to a report relayed to newsmen by Rose Anne M. Aya of PCAARRD Media Services.
Quality seeds are important in crop establishment, yield increase, and low incidence of pests and diseases.
As a collaborative effort to develop climate-resilient seeds, Filipino and other Asian experts recently held a webinar dubbed, “Regional Cooperation for Building a Resilient Seed System in the Philippines.”
The virtual seminar was organized by the International Potato Center (CIP) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
The DOST Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) was co-organizer.
Challenges faced by the seed sector brought upon by climate change; expected impacts of the Philippines when it joins the regional cooperation in the seed sector; and the potential challenges for joining the regional cooperation were discussed in the webinar.
Panelists from Bangladesh, Vietnam, and the Philippines shared their experiences and insights on joining the regional cooperation in the seed sector.
The webinar was hosted and moderated by Dr. Sampriti Baruah, CIP Project Cooordinator for Asia.
With the collaboration, the Philippines will benefit through acquiring field trial data of public sector varieties and information on varietal evaluation data from other Southeast and South Asian countries.
Filipino farmers can as well benefit from faster release of new climate-smart varieties, Aya reported.
Cooperation has already been done in other countries such as India and Bangladesh in 2013 and was extended to include Nepal in 2014.
The three countries shared data from their respective field trials generated during the evaluation of varieties released in the respective countries.
The agreement eventually included Cambodia and Sri Lanka and included other cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, sugarcane, and fiber crops. Myanmar and Bhutan eventually joined.