Director Alicia Ilaga of the Biotech
Program Office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has
called for more incentives for biotechnologists who have
developed high-yielding and pest-resistant crops.
Ilaga said researchers deserve to be rewarded for their
scientific work and noted that this is consistent with the findings of a study
done by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in cooperation with
Sikap/Strife Foundation.
She added that these researchers have been working with the
Department of Agriculture (DA) for the development of agricultural biotechnology
products and their protection and commercialization.
According to the study, majority of the respondents believe
that research and development (R&D) results should be commercialized and made
public.
A few, however, expressed fear on the effects of biotech
products on health and environment.
The researchers who answered in the affirmative say that
private commercialization would solve the country's problem on food
insufficiency, unemployment and poverty, and would provide faster dissemination
of products/technologies to the public.
Moreover, they agree that biotech products would be useless
if not commercialized. A small group, however, fears the negative effects of
biotechnology on health and the environment. They also express concern about
public sector R&D institutions taking profit from products that were initially
funded by the state.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) also plays a key role to the planned
commercialization. The scientists express concern on how the rights of the
researchers and developers would be protected if their products were
commercialized.
