BAR TODAY || Official Quarterly Publication of the Bureau of Agricultural Research

P15M high impact projects approved for livestock and poultry RDE network
by Thea Kristina M. Pabuayon, Zandro Guevarra

January-March 2001
Volume 3 No. 1

For 2000-2001, the Livestock and Poultry Research and Development, Extension Network received P15 million for the implementation of seven high impact projects (HIPs).

The HIPs will be managed by the Institute of Animal Science and the Dairy Training Institute, both at the College of Agriculture in UP Los Baños. Leadership will be under Dr. Orville Bondoc, Dr. Jose Arceo Bautista, Dr. Teresita M. Espino, and Dr. Cesar Sevilla.

HIPs are top priority projects that are of national significance to the country's productive system and national life. These projects address the immediate needs of the industry, hence they are integral requiring an interdisciplinary approach to meet established goals within a specified time frame - usually within two - three years. On its second year of existence (May 2000-April 2001), the network was granted P1.2 million to pursue its vision of a competitive and sustainable livestock and poultry industry. To boost its research capabilities, BAR allotted P2.9 million as Direct Research Cost (DRC). This would be used to fund priority projects for 2001. Fourteen new projects were approved by the network for possible funding by the Agrikulturang MaKAMASA Livestock and Poultry Program (AMLP)

The Livestock and Poultry RDE Network embodies the functional integration among institutions involved in the L&P RDE program in pursuit of the "one system-one program" approach under the AFMA. In its first year of operation in 1999, the network was initially given a budget of P1.6 million. In its maiden year of implementation of the National Livestock and Poultry RDE Agenda and Program, the network was able to finalize the Integrated National RDE Program (INRDEP). Since then, the L&P RDE Network has established a seven-point agenda and six program thrusts, formed the core technical team network members and farmer-fisherfolk advisory committees, and received and evaluated a total of 83 research proposals. Of the research proposals evaluated, seven priority projects were approved by BAR with assistance of the Senior Scientist Advisory Committee (SSAC) in CY 1999 and were given priority in terms of funding. These projects, coined as "high impact projects" or HIPs, are considered to be of national importance and outputs of which were expected to be usable within or after three years of implementation.