The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) has announced that a research and development center which seeks to increase competitiveness of the country’s garlic and other agri-food condiments industry has been launched in Batac, Ilocos Norte.
The launch of the R&D Center on garlic and other agri-food condiments is led by Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU).
The three-year Garlic and Other Agri-Food Condiments R&D Center program is funded by the DOST and monitored by the DOST-PCAARRD.
“MMSU has received funding support of P21.18 million for the first-year implementation of the three-year program,” the DOST-PCAARRD said in a statement.
“The program aims to provide S&T-based interventions to increase competitiveness of the garlic and other agri-food condiments industry in the Philippines.”
The Council said the program is composed of five projects:
-Collection, characterization, conservation, and improvement of garlic and chili genetic resources in the Philippines;
-Improvement of garlic and other agri-food condiments productivity through integrated crop management system;
-Development and evaluation of village level low-cost storage structure for garlic;
-Enhanced usability and profitability of garlic through black garlic processing; and
-Value chain analysis of garlic in the Philippines.
“The Center is one of the newly approved programs under the DOST Accelerated R&D Program for Capacity Building of Research and Development Institutions and Industrial Competitiveness: Niche Centers in the Regions for R&D (NICER), which aims to capacitate higher educational institutions in the regions, through an institutional grant for R&D activities that will make significant improvement in regional research and S&T infrastructure,” the PCAARRD said.
Officials of the MMSU and DOST-PCAARRD attended the official launch of the program during an online inception meeting.
DOST-PCAARRD Deputy Executive Director for R&D Feliciano G. Calora Jr. expressed the Council’s commitment to provide all-out assistance to the R&D undertakings of the newly approved program on garlic and other agri-food condiment crops.
MMSU president Shirley C. Agrupis thanked DOST and PCAARRD for guiding the program team during the proposal packaging and in facilitating its approval.