THE 44th Annual Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE) Meeting and Symposium (APAMS) was held recently at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) highlighting technological advances for food and nutrition security.
Bringing together leading scientists, engineers, and researchers from the Philippines and overseas, the conference from July 13 to 23, 2024 is held across four different Philippine state universities: the University of Rizal System (July 13-14), UPLB (July 15-17), Batangas State University (July 18-19), and Eastern Visayas State University (July 20-22).
Anchored on the theme "Filipino Scientists Across Borders: Toward Developing Regional S&T Innovation Ecosystems," APAMS provides the participants with a platform to share their work, engage in discussions, and explore opportunities for collaboration.
The UPLB leg zoomed in on technological innovations toward health, food and nutrition security with SEARCA Center Director Glenn Gregorio, PhD, as one of the speakers.
In his plenary speech, Gregorio highlighted technological advances for food and nutrition security.
He underscored examples of these latest innovations which included precision agriculture, vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture, gene editing, blockchain and food traceability, and climate resilience-focused technologies.
Gregorio said there are benefits of these advancements and yet there are also challenges that they may pose.
Using these technologies, he mentioned several challenges that persist including access to technology for smallholder farmers, regulatory issues, cybersecurity risks, and ethical concerns.
Gregorio also introduced SEARCA's Emerging Innovation for Growth Department (EIGD).
EIGD is SEARCA's lead arm dedicated to providing farmers and farming families wider access to innovative products and services through open innovation and agri-incubation; knowledge and technology transfer; and project development, monitoring, and evaluation.
One of the several EIGD initiatives focused on health, food, and nutrition security is the Food is Life Exemplified Promoting Planetary Health Diet (FLExPHD) competition.
Gregorio said FLExPHD "fostered the development of mobile applications to help consumers make informed food choices based on nutritional needs, health benefits, and the environmental impact of food production."
He also presented the Innovation Olympics 2.0, an agri hackathon, wherein young innovators developed solutions to the challenges faced by urban and rural vegetable farmers.
Another EIGD initiative mentioned was the Grants for Research toward Agricultural Innovative Solutions or GRAINS.
"This provides starter funds to researchers, scientists, inventors, and agripreneurs to scale up their technology or innovation model," Gregorio said.
Involving community participation, Gregorio mentioned some of these SEARCA initiatives.
These are the Upgrading the Calamansi Value Chain toward Improving the Calamansi Industry of Oriental Mindoro project, Rice Straw Biogas Hub project, and the Web-based Integrated Spatial Engine and Smart Ecosystem or WISE Carbon Farming project.
Other guests and speakers gracing the conference were Renato Solidum Jr., PhD, Secretary of Department of Science and Technology; Teodoro Herbosa Jr., MD, Secretary of the Department of Health; Jose Camacho Jr., DEc, Chancellor of UPLB; and national scientists Carmencita Padilla and Lourdes Cruz.
Also at the conference, through its Partnerships Unit, SEARCA hosted an institutional exhibit highlighting its publications on food security, climate resilience and natural resource management as well as information materials on its programs and services.
