THE Region-2 office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the project dubbed “Inclusion of Products from PCAARRD-assisted MSMEs to oneSTore Nationwide.”
As the funding agency, PCAARRD Executive Director Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora led the MOA signing together with DOST Regional Office-2 Director Engineer Sancho A. Mabborang, as the project’s implementing agency’s head.
The DOST-PCAARRD says the project’s duration is from January to December 2020 with a total grant of ₱4.8 million.
The project is expected to include generated technologies and products by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from projects assisted by the Council.
It aims to promote PCAARRD technologies/products through various social media platforms in order to increase web traffic awareness and existence of the products in the local market.
According to Mabborang, oneSTore.ph is a government e-commerce platform that markets 100-percent Filipino products developed by MSMEs in the country, where the DOST developed and maintains the platform.
Meanwhile, the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) established a production system for citrus quality planting materials (QPM) that can be readily accessed by citrus growers in the country.
DOST-PCAARRD says the system includes a citrus mother tree foundation and budwood increase block, where trees are maintained in large earthen pots inside an insect-proof screenhouse.
All mother trees are protected from two insect vectors: aphids for Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV), and psyllids for Huanglongbing (HLB).
CTV and HLB incidence, along with poor orchard management, are the main causes of low production of citrus in the country.
All mother trees are indexed for CTV and HLB annually to ensure that budwoods for seedling production in the nursery come from clean mother trees.
The said trees have also been certified by the Bureau of Plant Industry with tags indicating the true identity of the variety.
The production system for citrus QPM was developed through the project titled “Establishment of quality planting materials production system for citrus in Nueva Vizcaya” which was funded by the DOST-PCAARRD.
The indexing laboratory became fully equipped with protein-based and molecular-based protocols.
As a result, the laboratory has been used as a service facility for mother trees of NVSU’s Philippine Citrus Resources Development Center (PCRDC), private orchards, and nurseries in the province.
The molecular-based detection for HLB involves the use of a probe that matches a sequence in the bacterial DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
With positive detection, a polymerase chain product of 228 base pairs appears as a band.
The disease detection for mother trees takes only about 2 to 3 days, and the current efforts of the NVSU on disease indexing through PCRDC are opening opportunities to provide services in the Cagayan Valley Region.
The development of the QPM system was an effort which progressed from the support of other government agencies that include the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research, Commission on Higher Education-Integrated Research Utilization Program, and Department of Labor and Employment-Adjustment Measures Program. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
