Ifugao university gets P20M for R&D projects
LAMUT, Ifugao: The Ifugao State University (IFSU) is boosting its research and development (R&D) projects to fight the coronavirus pandemic with a P20-million budget from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).
Eva Marie Codamon Dugyon, IFSU president, said four research proposals earned the nod of the DA- BAR for funding assistance through the department’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund ( ACEF) Program.
On May 14, a memorandum of agreement between IFSU and the Agriculture department was signed by Dugyon, which was submitted to the DA Central Office for the signing of Secretary William Dar, who is also the chairman of ACEF Executive Committee.
Dugyon said the projects aimed “to increase the productivity and competitiveness of farmers and fisherfolk through the services and technologies of SUCs (state universities and colleges).”
She added that IFSU was geared up toward the upgrading of the facilities and products and transitioning the technology to the marketplace.
IFSU is expecting that these projects, which are to provide clean plantlets to communities, will serve as processing facilities for harvested crops supported by the DA’s Revive, Reboot Philippine Agri Sector Program.
“The approval of the projects is a very relevant response to the [ coronavirus] pandemic. The IFSU will be able to help vulnerable sectors against food insufficiency and unemployment through these needsbased interventions,” said Dinah Corazon Licyayo, vice president for IFSU Research, Development, Extension and Training ( RDET).
He added the battle against the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is far from over.
“We are hoping that these IFSU projects, with the DABAR’s support, will help resource-poor communities rise above the storm we are all in,” she said.
Dugyon said P5 million was allotted for each four projects.
One of the projects is titled “Upgrading of the Banana Tissue Culture Laboratory of Ifugao State University” by Licyayo; Elpidio Basilio Jr., director for research and development; and Honeylette Baloc, RDET science research assistant.
Licyayo said the project aims to upgrade the existing tissue culture facility of the IFSU to increase the production of quality and disease-free banana plantlets.
“This project is a response to the high demand for quality planting materials of saba or dippig (banana varieties) and other cultivars in the province which will be implemented for one year,” she added.
Also by Licyayo, Basilio Jr. and Baloc is another project titled “Upgrading of Indoor and Controlled Laboratory and Production Facility for Agaricus bisporus at Ifugao State University.”
Licyayo said the project believes that the improvement and renovation of the current mushroom facilities, and acquisition of state- of-the-art laboratory and production equipment for Agaricusbisporus (button mushroom) might ensure product quality and availability all-year-round to be implemented for one year.
The third project is titled “Upgrading of Food Processing Laboratory at Ifugao State University” by Josefa Dulinayan and Jomel Fanwa, instructors of IFSU’s College of Agriculture and Home Science (CAHS).
Dulinayan explained that this project, apart from maximum production, would enhance the research capabilities of faculty and students in food production, processing and marketing to be implemented for one year.
The fourth project is titled “Product and Market Enhancement of Galyang (Cyrtospermachamissonis) Taro Chips” by Licyayo; Maritess Alberto, instructor of CAHS; and Froylyn Facullo, Extension and Training Department ( ETD) staff member.
Licyayo said this project aims to enhance production, improve facilities and provide value-addition to products of which skills training have been given by IFSU through its ETD to various people’s organizations
In 2010, one of the beneficiaries of the training was
St. John’s Episcopal Church Women Group. Since then, the group has started producing taro chips and has been selling these within and outside Ifugao province.
This project, which would address the challenge of limited materials and equipment being confronted by the organization, is to be implemented for two years, Licyayo added.