The Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT), in commemoration of its 22nd year founding, held an agriculture site tour and turnover of three laboratories and a cold pond to the Central Luzon State University on Friday in Munoz, Nueva Ecija.
H.E. Ambassador Huang Xilian of the People's Republic of China joined Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar in the event that reiterated the strong bilateral ties between Philippines and China, especially in the development of agriculture through innovation and technology.
PhilSCAT was established 22 years ago by the Chinese and Philippine governments with an initial five-million-dollar donation from the People’s Republic of China and counterpart funding from the Philippine government.
"Together, we have since worked to increase investments in research and development and training. The results have been nothing less than rewarding. We now know things that we couldn't have ever known before because of the work of the men and women behind PhilSCAT-- and what we have learned enables us to help our farmers reduce their production costs –and increase both their yields and their incomes," said Dar. Now on its third phase, the PhilSCAT continues to serve this country’s agriculture sector with technological breakthroughs in hybrid rice research and genetics, various consultancy programs -- and farmer training projects.
The Center has produced 10 manuals and handbooks on hybrid rice breeding, seed production, and cultivation – all of which were Jointly developed with experts from China. PhilSCAT III has acquired several intellectual products certifications, including those for a plastic biogas digester tank, a number of new hybrid rice varieties, the Magsasakang Mekaniko Program, and the Makina Teknik Program.
Moreover, the Center has formed partnerships with other research institutions and 325 farmers-recipients for the Rice-ing Up Ani at Kita Program, providing them with 10 tons of free LP 937 hybrid rice seeds in 2020 and 2021.
The High Yielding Cultivation Techno Demo of PhilSCAT lines in Masalasa, Victoria, Tarlac, reduced the cost of producing Mestiso 38 to PhP6.88 per kilogram even as it allowed harvests of around 11.23 tons per hectare.