Food & Agriculture Panel

Panel Exit Report

14th Congress

E
COMSTE
Congressional Commission on
T

1987
Science & Technology and Engineering
Agriculture and Food Panel
Dr. William Padolina
Chair

Dr. Arsenio Balisacan

TAC Adviser

MEMBERS
Dr. Jose Bacusmo
Dr. Ponciano Batugal
Mr. Nicomedes Eleazar
Dr. Raul Hernandez
Dr. Bart Lapus
Dr. Luis Rey Velasco
Focus on the Global Fresh
and Processed Food
Market
 Achieving
competitiveness by
increasing productivity
 Assessment
Increasing productivity to meet
food security goals, including
sufficiency in basic food items,
will require investments in
technology and technology
delivery
 Challenges
 Compliance of fresh and processed food
products to market requirements is low.
This includes lack of understanding and
implementation of market standards and
documentation, and non-compliance with
Good Agricultural Practices and Good
Manufacturing Practices
 Low investment in the science and
technology of product development in
agriculture and fisheries
 Challenges (continued…)
 Low quality and numbers of graduate
scientists and engineers
 Low adoption/commercialization of
available improved technologies, also
lack of effective demand
 Weak innovation and
entrepreneurship cultures
 Opportunities
 Production and therefore supply of fresh fruits
can be sustained or even increased in the
Philippines

 The country is very close in proximity to the

Asian and ASEAN markets for fresh, frozen, and
processed foods

 There is a growing support from the academe

and R&D institutes for food industries

 Filipino manpower is trainable

 S&T Strategy
A good scan of the global food
market to provide the roadmap for
applying science and technology
to make Philippine agriculture
competitive
 S&T Strategy
 Increasing productivity with limited arable land to
meet the needs of a global market, a growing
population and changing food habits in order to
maintain adequate supply and affordability of
nutritious and healthy food for the Filipino.
 Channel the research and development agenda
towards products that the market will desire and
will be able to absorb.
 Clear and well-defined application of science
and technology to create new wealth in rural
areas
 Focus on Development of New Food
Products for Domestic, Export Market
NOVEL MARINE SPICES FRUITS SPECIAL
FOODS PRODUCTS CHARACTER-
ISTICS
BOUTIQUE OCTOPUS & PEPPER POMELO HIGH MELTING
FOODS OTHERS POINT CHOCO
CEPHALO-
PODS

CULTURED LABUYO OTHER COCONUTS

GAROUPA CITRUS WITH HIGH
FRUITS LEVELS OF
MEDIUM CHAIN
OYSTERS TRIGLYCERIDE
S
MUSSELS
 Management Tools
 Improve database – Use remote sensing technologies
 Improve market intelligence
 Establish Product Testing and Analysis Laboratories
 Establish Regional Packaging Centers
 Improve food engineering, postharvest processing
capability
 Increase budgets on R&D institutions – Food
Development Center, BIOTECH-UPLB
 Financing for Biocommerce ventures - Credit from rural
banks
 Predictable legal environment – Review bankruptcy
laws, IPR regime
 Private-Public Partnership
 The government and the private sector
can be made to share the investment cost
and returns of R&D

 Intermediaries who can think and perform

with the speed of private business but are
analytic as the academe and policy-
oriented as the government must be put in
place to provide a timely response to the
dynamic market
A Technology-Explicit Development Agenda
recognizes the Role of Science and
Technology in the following:

 Promote Economic Efficiency

 Facilitate Trade
 Attract investments
 Ensure Food Security
 Assure Quality of Human Resources
 Enhance Environmental Protection
 Mitigate Disasters and Hazards
Thank you