MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is establishing a DNA Library of Crops, Fisheries, and Livestock (LCFL) which will help speed up crop improvement and enhance Philippines' ability to benefit economically from genetic and proprietary rights.

DA already started the DNA LCFL Library under its 2011 biotechnology program which for the first time received a P150 million budget under the 2011 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

DA Undersecretary Segfredo R. Serrano said that DA already has a more stable budget for biotechnology program office (BPO) as government recognizes the function of new techniques in its poverty and hunger reduction and food security aims.

"We're making sure we're getting our due share from the more than 60 percent budget increase for the DA system," said Serrano.

Dr. Candida B. Adalla, director of DA's biotechnology program office (BPO), in an interview, said they have already started the project last year.

"We have already done barcoding for native chicken. It will be a continuing thing as we work on other crops," Adalla said.

For about 10 years since 2000, the BPO obtained its budget from the US PL480 Food forr Peace program for a total of P280 million. But the GAA funding through the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) will make commitments for BPO more permanent through a yearly allocation.

Adalla said the DNA Library is an electronic or digital database of genetic materials that will be kept and maintained by the Bureau of Plant Industry's National Seed Industry Council.

"If I'm a breeder I can easily improve on my crop because I will have access to a database of the genetic material that I need," she said.

The database will enhance the country's intellectual property claims for plant and animal genetic development.

Under the 2011 PL480 research and development program, BPO had 28 programs for crops and plants, six programs for livestock and poultry, and three for fisheries and aquatic species.

The program under the 2011 GAA include varietal improvement for non genetically modified (GM) crops using biotechnology tools such as marker assisted selection or breeding which took up the highest number of projects at 22 percent of total while genetic conservation and gene banking got 14 percent.

Other BPO projects are varietal improvement for GM technologies, improvement of bioprocessing using biotechnology tools, commercialization of biotechnology products, and support for policy, regulation, and quality assurance and safety.

BPO is also allocating a significant budget for skills or capability building as government needs to strengthen presence of research experts although it already has a good number.

"We have very robust pool of scientists. There are many at UPLB (University of the Philippines Los Banos) as we offer a BS on Agricultural Biotechnology. In terms of budget our P150 million for biotechnology research and development is significant in contrast to zero, said Adalla.

"Before we depended on grant, foreign projects. This time it's people's money allocated already which means that government has recognized the importance of biotechnology," said Adalla.

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DA Establishes DNA Crop Library