Aquagentech offers test kits
THE first prize winner in the Agri-Aqua Innovation Challenge student category of the Department of Science and TechnologyPhilippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DoST-PCAARRD) offered affordable diagnostic kits that detects bacteria and viruses in shrimp farms.
In an interview with The Manila Times, Joseph Carlo Vergel, Aquagentech founder and chief executive officer (CEO), said that his company’s innovation provides early detection of virus in shrimp farms to prevent its spread.
“We chose this innovation because growers in [the] Philippines are affected by the death of their shrimp in the fishponds, so we decided to develop a test kit to help them. So we basically designed a diagnostic kit for early detection of the virus to prevent its spread in other areas,” Vergel said.
He added that a test kit costs at least P300 compared to the expensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test which costs between P2,000 and P4,000 per kit, saying it is “very minimal.”
Vergel added that at present, Aquagentech has 20 clients all over the country as he expressed confidence that winning the first prize in student category will boost the market of its diagnostic kit.
“We have now more than 20 shrimp farms in the Philippines, Cagayan to Sarangani, that are using our diagnostic kit. We joined the Agri-Aqua Innovation Challenge
for the price to be used for the mass production,” Vergel said.
Aquagentech received P400,000 cash from the DoST-PCAARRD.
He said the product was a joint collaboration of various universities.
“It’s a collaboration of different universities in the Philippines. It started way back 2013, with our adviser, Dr. Meribeth Maningas. With her were also different Filipino scientists,” Vergel said, who is 25 years old.
He said that as a young CEO and founder, his company employs 10 personnel.
“Basically, we are a startup company. We are just enjoying the journey. We learned so much from the start until now. We are very thankful for the program, from DoST-PCAARD, AIM (Asian Institute of Management) and MAP (Management Association of the Philippines),” he added.
Vergel noted that it took five years for his group to be able to perfect the innovation.
“We were expecting like 10 years for the trial and errors. When it comes to molecular and biotechnology, it is really a hit and miss, so you cannot perfect it in just one try. So, it’s a series of trials, until we come up with this technology,” Vergel said.
He added that the six months training provided by DoSTPCAARRD, AIM and MAP provided his group with the necessary skills on business operation.
“We learned business relevance, market relativity, commercialization, more on the business and the management side because there is no problem on technical and scientific side,” he noted.
At the same time, Vergel encouraged Filipinos to continue striving to help the farmers.
“Let us do our best to help our fellow Filipinos, our Filipino farmers, our aquaculturist, our fishermen. Let’s help them solve their problem because our ultimate goal is a better Philippines,” he said.