PH steps up swine R&D cooperation
THE Philippines through the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural Research ( DA- BAR) and DA- Philippine Agriculture and Fishery Biotechnology Program ( Biotech Program) is stepping up research and development for swine through an international effort.
The UK-China-Philippines-Thailand Poultry and Swine Research Initiative is a collaborative research activity entered into by DA-BAR and the Biotech Program. The other agencies cooperating under the program are the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency.
“This research initiative aims to combine the strengths of academic research groups within the partner-countries and to work collaboratively on a research that will underpin the development of novel strategies to diagnose, prevent, manage or treat microbiological diseases of swine and poultry; promote safe, healthy, resilient and sustainable food production systems in Southeast Asia; and reduce the potential incidence of zoonotic diseases,” DA-BAR said in a statement.
From the 44 research proposals screened and evaluated from the initial call and Partnering Workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2017, 11 projects were approved.
Four of the 11 projects have the Philippines as partner and are being co-funded by DA-BAR and the Biotech Program: Rapid diagnostics and control strategies for enteric bacterial pathogens in backyard and commercial poultry production in Thailand and the Philippines; A strategic approach to identifying and combatting porcine reproductive ad respiratory syndrome virus outbreaks and other porcine viral diseases; Low cost portable molecular diagnostic platform for rapid detection of poultry infectious pathogens; and Using genomics to trace Salmonella transmission and antimicrobial resistance in the poultry and swine food chains in Metropolitan Manila, Philippines.
To bring together the funding agencies, key research organizations and leading academics from UK, China, Thailand and the Philippines that are involved in the research initiative, a kick- off workshop was conducted last September 26-28 in Beijing, China.
The workshop sought to provide a broader idea of the progress of implementation, discuss the succeeding plans, and identify possible synergies and coordination.