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

BPI in its 72nd year recognizes BAR's role in R&D
The Bureau of Plant Industry marked its 72nd anniversary last January 14 at its headquarters in San Andres, Malate. As part of the celebration, BPI awarded plaques of recognition to various DA offices and officials for contributing to the goals of BPI and the development of agriculture and fisheries. Among the winners was BAR, who was recognized for its "invaluable and meritorious contribution to BPI, and as a tribute to Dir. Eliseo Ponce for his benevolence, dynamic leadership and active support to BPI." Other winners were the National Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the DA, PhilRice, National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Institute of Plant Breeding, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

AICAF, BAR discuss research collaborations
Officials from Japan's Association for International Cooperation for Agriculture and Forestry visited BAR last January 14 to discuss possible areas in research and collaboration, particularly in the areas of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

According to AICAF Technical Advisor Chukichi Kaneda, they will draft and examine new cooperation policies for agriculture, forestry and fisheries so that they can respond to new issues and needs of other countries, particularly their Southeast Asian neighbors. BAR officials and the AICAF contingents discussed the latest R&D researches being done in the country, particularly those dealing with the effects of El Niño and La Niña.

BAR grants P5M to SMIARC
BAR awarded a P5-million institutional development grant to the Southern Mindanao Integrated Agricultural Research Center, Region XI's nerve center for R&D that actively undertakes on-farm and mid-stream research.

The grant is used to upgrade and renovate the Center's existing facilities, and construct an administration building in the 50-hectare Manambulan Station of the DA-RFU XI in Tugbok District, Davao City.

Planning Workshop 2002: Renewed mission for BAR
The Bureau of Agricultural Research held its annual planning workshop to review its mission and vision given the country's situation and the impact of recent global events. The workshop evaluated the performance measure of the different divisions for 2002.

Participants agreed to retain the Bureau's current vision of "an assured future for the Filipino people through research excellence in agriculture and fisheries." The Bureau's mission statement incorporated the goals of consolidating and strengthening the R&D system, managing funds, strengthening capacity towards a more responsive R&D system, increasing access to R&D knowledge, and formulating and implementing an integrated agriculture and fisheries agenda and program at both the national and regional levels.

BAR, ICLARM explore new fishery projects
Director General Meryl Williams of the International Center for Living and Aquatic Resources and Management (ICLARM) discussed with BAR the possibilities of joint fishery projects that focus on technology development and saving biodiversity.

BAR Director Eliseo Ponce, in turn, proposed that BAR and ICLARM start a small fishery project in support to this year's R&D theme, "New Science for Food and Poverty Alleviation", adding that the role of ICLARM is crucial in providing technical support and expertise in terms of project formulation and identification of priority areas.

BAR has new organizational set-up for 2002
This year, BAR has redefined and realigned its functional organization with the employment of additional personnel from the country's premier state colleges and universities, and has renamed some of its existing units in keeping with additional functions and responsibilities. This is part of the Bureau's on-going reorganization to make its service more efficient and relevant to farmers, fishers and researchers in the country.

According to Administrative Head Hamlet Dala, the organizational restructuring was a result of a rigorous process of analyzing the current set-up. "This was supposed to be implemented last year but because of certain developments and the intent to really get the best people to handle the (BAR's) units, it really took time for the management to finalize the assignments."

BAR focuses on on-farm research
With BAR's focus on on-farm research, the farmers will soon have more access to modern agriculture and fisheries technologies and other benefits of research.

Ultimately, the OFR program is expected to hasten the total farm productivity and income of farmers in the 15 regions, thus, accelerating the promotion of technology to farming and fishing communities. It will showcase the generated technologies in cooperation with the local government units.

All regions have started the first and most critical activity of the OFR program which is the Participatory Rural Appraisal to assess the actual technological needs and priorities of the regions.

NTLs hold 1st quarter meeting for 2002
Team leaders of BAR's 21 national RDE networks held their 1st quarter meeting to facilitate proper coordination and management of national R&D programs and networking activities.

The event is the first in a series of meetings sponsored by BAR every year as part of the regular and continuous consultation activities held with the different commodity- and discipline-based networks, DA agencies and staff bureaus, and state colleges and universities.

This year, the NTLs will include in their agenda new policy recommendations on the assessment of network performances, resource allocation and research prioritization of networks. Specifically, BAR will propose a set of minimum requirements that need to be met to ensure that the networks perform according to their terms of references. Criteria for evaluating the networks performances and guidelines on the termination of RDE projects were proposed.

BAR initiates new policies for R&D networks
Following the 1st quarter National Team Leaders Meeting this March, BAR and the team leaders have proposed new initiatives to improve the current project implementation and monitoring scheme of BAR and the networks, and increase their efficiency and effectivity.

These are: a one-billion endowment fund for sustained human resource development to support the continuous training of R&D scientists, or at least P2.5 million for small research grants and P0.5 million for joint researches; a proposal to integrate national RDE networks into fewer ones; and new criteria and minimum requirements for judging network performance.

Luzon R&D managers revitalize OFR program
BAR's on-farm research program has been revitalized and is now dubbed the "Community-based Participatory Action Research: The OFR Program of the DA." This developed during the Luzon regional R&D managers meeting last March.

The new program imbibes the following concepts: total farm, total technology, total family, and total community. According to BAR Director Eliseo Ponce, this new perspective provides a holistic approach in facilitating effective research-extension interface.