As the national lead agency for livestock biotechnology research and development, the DA-Philippine Carabao Center (DA-PCC) had embarked on a Public Law (PL) 480-supported project titled “Strength-ening the Livestock Biotechnology Center” in a bid to further intensify the performance of the live-stock industry.

The implementation of the PHP391-million project brought forth significant contributions to strengthen the livestock industry, which included enhancement of DA-PCC’s workforce capabilities and provision of the needed biotechnology laboratories and equipment to efficiently address the concerns of farmers and the agribusiness sector.

It is expected in the long run that the DA-PCC with its improved capability and R&D efforts would ultimately redound to benefit millions of stakeholders in the Philippine livestock sector. Its improved institutional capability in animal biotechnology would also eventually make a significant impact on the livestock sector with the following concrete effects: improved production efficiency, affordable quality animal-based food products, and new enterprises that create new jobs.

The project was comprised of three components namely: (1) development of Biotechnology Research Capacity through strengthening of its core scientists, (2) establishment of Livestock Biotechnology Center as an invigorating workplace, and (3) conduct of research and development initiatives focused on areas with significant impact on genetic improvement and productivity. All were implemented within the duration of the project from January 2008 to December 2015.

The Livestock Biotechnology Center named Livestock Innovations and Biotechnology Complex, inaugurated by then DA Secretary Proceso Alcala in March 2015, was established as a workplace to entice scientists and their scientific research team as well as for those who are interested to undertake research and innovations on livestock biotechnology and related fields. The infrastructure was a long-term project, which are collective efforts from other funding agencies including the Philippine Government GAA and Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

The complex consists of biotechnology laboratories hub, cryobank facility, livestock pavilion, and animal biotechnology showroom. Among these, the animal biotechnology showroom has yet to be completed. Currently, all the rest of the complex are operationalized.

Core scientists and their research teams, on the other hand, were sent to take postgraduate degree courses and specialized training programs to strengthen their technical capabilities in meeting the demands of new and emerging bio-techniques. These were carried out by continuous exposure of the senior scientists on the newly developed methodologies by working together with foreign experts in either domestic or foreign laboratories.

Younger scientists were also allowed to pursue short-term trainings as well as degree programs in more developed laboratories elsewhere. They are partnered with a senior staff as a mentor or coach for them to acquire relevant and new knowledge and skills from.

Currently, the project has produced two PhD and seven MS degree holders while there are still two employees taking PhD and another two pursuing MA/MS courses.

There were 13 specialized trainings participated in by 24 scientists and researchers in various biotechnology and R&D laboratories in about 11 countries worldwide.

A total of 30 technical collaborations were established, which engaged 28 experts in various fields of animal production and biotechnologies. Within the period of the program implementation, various linkages and partner institutions were created, locally (n=21) and internationally (n=51). The DA-PCC was able to send its research and extension teams to various study missions related to R&D in livestock biotechnology and technology adoption programs in Asia and the Pacific, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Meanwhile, another PL480-funded project is set to be carried out in 2022, which is focused on the “Intensified Community-Based Dairy Enterprise Development”. It will be jointly implemented by the National Dairy Authority (NDA) and DA-PCC with the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) as fund manager.

With a budget of PHP513 million, the DA-PCC will focus on increasing the milk production and dairy buffalo herd through the following project components: dairy buffalo procurement and distribution, expanded artificial insemination, feed production and development, dairy buffalo enterprise development, capacity building, and project management, monitoring and evaluation.