By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

EXPERTS from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and several state colleges and universities are working to improve the Philippine organic agriculture industry and create a research and development extension program on organic agriculture.

The agencies met during the recently held National Consultation Workshop on Organic Agriculture S&T Framework and Specific RDE Program fro 200702010 last July 26 and 27.

The workshop includes organizing different activities into coherent focused strategic programs, most importantly the priority projects and roles of stakeholders in pushing and promoting organic agriculture.

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THE SAMAHAN ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM) said the Philippines will continue to lose its best scientists unless it has national industries that accommodate their skills.

And the problem, as described by the activist organization of scientists, cannot be solved even by the recent increase in budget to P839 million for the science and technology community.

AGHAM national chairperson Giovanni Tapang said in a statement that the budget provided for scholarships and construction of scientific facilities is way below the standard set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is a two percent budget allocation from a country’s annual gross domestic product.

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