By Danny O. Calleja
LEGAZPI CITY, Aug. 2 (PNA) — Britons are fond of rice as Filipinos, that is why the United Kingdom (UK) has provided the Philippines Php711 million in grant for various research and development (R&D) projects—among them, on this common staple grain.
“Food security is one of the greatest global challenges we currently face. In a bid to address this, a new collaboration between the UK and four countries in Asia, including the Philippines, will support research projects to boost the resilience and sustainability of rice production in the region,” British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad said in a statement reaching here Sunday.
For this, the UK Embassy is calling for proposals on collaborative interdisciplinary research that will underpin the long-term sustainable production of rice, utilizing the combined strengths of academic research groups within the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China and the UK.
This initiative, it said, is supported by the UK Government’s Newton Fund, which helps build science and innovation partnerships with key emerging economies.
The Newton Fund is a Research and Innovation Fund of £375 million to support science and innovation partnerships with emerging knowledge economies.
Programs in the Philippines are being allocated around Php711 million until 2019, the Embassy said.
The Newton Fund helps promote the economic development and social welfare of partner countries, recognizing that science, technology, and innovation capability are essential to drive long-term sustainable growth and to develop new technologies that would benefit the most vulnerable in society.
The UK Government, through its embassies, works with local institutions such as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Commission on Higher Education and with UK delivery partners, which include the British Council, Medical Research Council. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Priority areas are health and life sciences, improving environmental resilience, energy security, agricultural technology and digital innovation and creativity.
The fund, which covers three broad categories of activity, will support projects such as joint research on development topics; student and researcher fellowships and mobility schemes; challenge funds to develop innovative solutions on topics of interest to developing nations; and science and innovation capacity-building activities.
These categories are: People that involves capacity-building activities, exchanges, and fellowships; Programs, for research collaborations on development topics; and Translation, involving innovation partnerships.
One of the Philippines funding partners for the rice project is the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
This council formulates policies, plans, and programs for science and technology-based research and development in the different sectors under its concern and coordinates, evaluates, and monitors the national R&D efforts in the agriculture, aquatic, and natural resources sectors.
It also allocates government and external funds for R&D and generates resources to support its program.
The other partner is the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) which leads the strategic efforts in national rice science for development and helps ensure rice self-sufficiency and food security by increasing the productivity and profitability of farmers in a sustainable and competitive manner.
In the statement, Ahmad said that, “in a country where rice is a main part of almost every meal, enhancing rice production is a major priority.”
The headlines report that El Niño may be the most intense the country has experienced in recent years while studies have shown that climate change will have a devastating effect on food security if it is not addressed now, he said.
“This R&D project will help farmer productivity and enhance trading in rice, when necessary and we encourage all researchers who are working towards the adequate supply of this staple food to submit their applications to the Newton Fund,” Ahmad said.
The call for applications is jointly being echoed by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK BBSRC) and the UK Natural Environment Research Council, in collaboration with Philippine partners DOST-PCAARRD DA-PhilRice.
The research proposals, according to the DOST, will help address the rice challenges in the Philippine context such as greater resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses, improved resource use efficiency — including nitrogen, phosphorus and water; improved quality of rice, including nutritional enhancement and grain quality; and utilization of rice by-products.
These prospective research proposals will also become novel research and technology development tools supporting all areas of challenges — including systems biology, bioinformatics, screening and characterization of germ plasm for gene and trait discovery, the DOST said.
The UK Embassy said these priority areas in sustainable rice research have been agreed though a regional workshop in Bangkok, Thailand last April, which brought together relevant funding agencies, key research organizations and leading academics from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China and the UK.
Proposed projects should be up to a maximum duration of three years and will require a UK Principal Investigator as well as a Philippine Principal Investigator with the options of additional Principal Investigators from other partner countries.
The deadline for submission of applications is on Aug. 13 and more information on this opportunity can be obtained from the UK BBSRC website. (PNA)