The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) spearheads the National Biotechnology Week (NBW) 2015 that will be held from November 23 to 28, 2015 at SM Dasmariñas, Cavite. NBW 2015 will feature an exhibit and fora that will be open to the public.
NBW 2015 has the theme, Bioteknolohiya: Kaagapay ng Mamamayan sa Pambansang Kaunlaran. It also has the slogan, Angat Tayo sa Bioteknolohiya! NBW is an annual celebration which kicked off in 2005 and was institutionalized in 2007 by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 1414. The event serves as a venue for government agencies, academic communities, and private institutions to create awareness about the role of biotechnology in food production and security.
In the past year, biotechnology has helped about 415,000 small, resource poor Filipino farmers and families with biotech corn. About 813,000 hectares of biotech corn has been grown in the country in 2014, a 5% increase from 2013, according to International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). Moreover, the Philippines is proving to be a vital biotech corn grower, ranking 12th worldwide.
The event will feature fora that will involve DOST-PCAARRD, the Southeast Regional Center for Agriculture for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC) and the ISAAA; National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Institute of Plant Breeding of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (IPB-UPLB), Department of Health (DOH), National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) and the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD); Department of Agriculture, Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI); the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-ERDB); the Department of Agriculture Biotech Project Implementation Unit (DA-BIOTECH-PIU), Philippine Science High School System.
Meanwhile, the exhibits will feature the biotechnology initiatives of the DOST, SEARCA, the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission for Higher Education (CHED), the National Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (BIOTECH-UPLB), DENR, DA, UP Manila, National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB), the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), UP Lab, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
The opening ceremonies will include various activities such as the Biotech for Health forum that will be led by PCHRD and FNRI, the Biotech 101 forum that will be led by SEARCA-BIC with NAST and UPLB-IPB, and the healthcare forum, which DOH will lead on the second day.
The third day will highlight S&T in agriculture by DOST-PCAARRD as well as the environment by DENR-ERDB. NRCP and PCIEERD will talk about their experience on biotechnology on research, while PSHS will promote biotechnology as a career among students on the fourth day. Finally, on the fifth and last day of the fora, DOST-PCAARRD will discuss S&T in aquatic, while DA will have an oral presentation of the Fisheries Biotech Center (FBC) Poster Contest. The closing ceremonies will be held in the afternoon of November 27.