 Welcome to TVUP's Science Innovation series. Today's topic is very important. It's on agriculture, food and nutrition focused on agricultural crops grown on land. I am Giselle Concepcion, your host. I am a professor from the Marine Science Institute researching on marine drugs from the sea. My co-host is Professor Benji Valiejo. He is with the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology and he works on biogeography and ecology and he is the program coordinator of the science and technology and society program of the UP Diliman College of Science. We are honored with very distinguished guests today in our show. Allow me to introduce Dr. Willy Padolina. So Dr. Padolina was a former Erie Deputy Director General for partnerships focusing on intellectual property for public good. He was D.O.S.T. Former Secretary, NAST President where NAST is the National Academy of Science and Technology, former UP Los Baños Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor and currently the Ched Picari Program Manager where Picari is the Philippine-California Advanced Research Initiatives of the government. Also with us today is Research Professor Art Salazar of the Institute of Plant Breeding. He's a chemist by training and he's been focusing on research on corn. So welcome to our show Dr. Padolina and Dr. Salazar. I'll have Benji ask the first question. Questions for our guests. I think one of the biggest questions for why we are doing research on agriculture is really for food security. So I think the first question for our guest is how do we improve agriculture productivity so we can attain food security for our country and people. And may I suggest let's start with staple. Yeah with staple probably. Well the number one staple is really rice. So with respect to rice would like to ask our guest whether how do we attain food security for rice and is it possible for us to do so. Yes it is possible for us to achieve food security provided we are able to put in the science and technology that is needed to make our food reserves and food supply adequate for our population. But of course it has to be coupled with other policies. Food security is a very complex operation. It needs to be supported by a system of policies governance and an infrastructure for research and development that is responsive to the needs of the country. So at present Dr. Padolina understand we are a net importer of rice. So why is that? Why is it that Vietnam provides us our rice and previously Thailand. We're supposed to have rice and the Erie in the Philippines helping us with our rice supply. Yes I think there is an explanation to that and one of the most common explanations to why we are still importing rice is our population growth. We have not managed it well. Second we have very limited land that we can harvest for rice. The good Lord gave us only 2.9 physical hectares of land which translated into harvested area is about 3.7 to 4 million hectares of land. Thailand has 9 million hectares of harvested land and only 65 million mouths to feed. Based on our current consumption of rice of about 119 kilos per person per year every time we add 1 million more mouths to feed which is half of what we produce in terms of number of babies per year we have to harvest an additional 50,000 hectares of rice. Where will we get that now? I think the only way to do that without opening new land is to improve our irrigation and that needs science. That needs people who know how to manage our water resources. People who know how to engineer our irrigation canals so they will be functional all the time and also a governance system that will allow the equitable distribution of water. So rice loves water. That's why the irrigation technology is critical. In Vietnam and Thailand you have the Delta. You have the Mekong Delta that is like a natural terrain for growing rice. So what are the new irrigation technologies that Dr. Padolina could explore? Irrigation because it is very dependent on water will have to be managed in a precision manner which means that the delivery of water has to be managed and controlled so that you don't waste anything and you just put enough water that the rice needs. So there are technologies which have been developed by both field rice and eerie like what we call alternate wet and drying. That means you don't keep the rice field wet all the time and there are indicators which you use so that you know when to deliver water. I think that's a good opportunity for our electronics people to put sensors in the field and then that can just activate the irrigation system pump so that it will deliver water at the time it is needed and stop it when there's enough. Also we need to breed rice varieties that can require less water. Right now the existing varieties on the average will require 3,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of rice. That's a little too much and I think unless we breed varieties that will require less water that might not be a sustainable arrangement. So it's just an example of some of the science and technologies that we need to introduce in addition to policies and management issues that we need to address. So I'm aware that in field rice for several years now they have been working on genetic variants of our different breeds of rice and there's the Tungra virus resistant rice variety and there's one on salt stress resistance and also one that would grow in less water. So have any of these varieties already been grown in large scale? I think they are available and all be it in a very limited way because the other constraint we face in improving productivity in rice is the availability of elite varieties in terms of seeds. We don't have a well-developed seed industry and so whenever a farmer might want to plant a Tungra resistant variety he has to look for the seeds and if it's not available in his place then he's just content to plant what he has and it may not be the Tungra resistant variety at the time when a Tungra infestation is prevalent in his area. Both biotic and abiotic stresses need to be addressed and part of the abiotic stress would be climate change. The occurrence of very severe climate conditions like very hot ambient temperatures or too much water can be a stress to the productivity of the rice plant or even flooding. So Field Rice and Erie have developed what we call the Submarine Rice which can be submerged for 17 days before flowering and it will revive itself after the flood waters recede. But if it gets submerged while it is flowering then it dies. You cannot revive it anymore. Hopefully the typhoons will come before flowering and then the floods will hit the rice field before flowering. You can revive the plant. It has been tested in many parts of Asia and I think it's available here. We call it Submarine Rice. There are also rice varieties that are tolerant to dry areas of drought. So again these are just examples of how science has been applied especially in breeding elite varieties. So I think what you're saying Dr. Padelina is the importance of traditional plant breeding but also one that is based on genetics. So these are the science areas where our youth should try to specialize in. So that's one main point. The other is that we should really have a seed bank that is secure so that we can choose among the very many varieties that we have and select the elite ones. And when you say elite I would imagine that it refers to the nutritive value of the rice partly. Aside from its color, its texture, etc. And this brings to mind your other main point which is that it's the population, the overpopulation that puts a lot of pressure on our food security including rice. And I think that's a very important point because we have to secure our food including our staple for our babies and our youth. Food would be the most important determinant of health including their intelligence and their competitiveness when they grow up and it's also the most important determinant of disease. If you're not properly fed, you don't have your defenses then your tendency is to get sick. Or if you don't eat the right food with a good nutrition then of course you would also get sick. Which brings us to maybe another strategy that UP researchers are taking and that is perhaps to improve the nutritive value of rice by combining it with another staple, crop, which is corn. And here we have the leader of our research team in UP developing what we call our rice white corn blend. So tell us all about it. Yeah, this is one, thank you. This is one exciting development in terms of coping up with the food needs of the country. We were not importing rice then. It's only relatively a new development but because food was everywhere. The country is basically rain fed and crops grow anywhere. And so in major parts of the country like in the south, it's basically mountainous. People depend on crops not irrigated and that's basically corn. That's why you have a lot of corn in Cebu. In Mindanao you have a lot of corn because there's not much place to put in the irrigation system. So they survive on corn. And being so, they had to live with it. And one of the nice things about corn is that it's cheaper to grow. And also this one where science and technology could come in. If people could only be properly informed of the benefits of eating corn instead of tasty rice. We're in so-called the high glycemic index. It means of course getting it digested in two hours while when you eat corn, it subsides in your body for four hours. So your stamina is improved. You don't eat much because you still feel full. And so we are endorsing corn to supplement rice because of the health issue and nutrition issue. You will notice nowadays that many are affected with diabetes because of our propensity to eat. It has to be good tasting. And when you have that, then you grapple with the issue of possibly the buildup of your blood sugar. While in corn, it digests slowly. And so even data from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute they made a nationwide survey that the blood sugar of the people from the south is lower than from the north. Because they eat less rice and more of corn. And it's got more fiber. Of course with the fiber. And also one thing also about corn is that in terms of price, we only import about 10% of our rice requirement. That's not much. And that could be easily replaced by corn. And so if only more people will eat corn, then we need not import rice. We could even export rice. Because if all the Filipinos on the outbreak will eat 30% corn, then we have enough to spare. And so this is our immediate advocacy. While working on the rice, definitely you have to do something about the rice. So I think if we just pool our resources together, our minds together, we need not be a food dependent country. We could be food independent next year. Depending on how seriously the government wants it to be. And if all the key stakeholders will cooperate and make a reality, the hope that we will be a food sufficient nation. I think that's so important to be not dependent on other countries for our food supply. What if they also experience a shortage? Of course they will not import to us. We really have to make the investment in agriculture. And I'm a firm believer in that. That is the most important area of research in the country. Rice is traded only at 6% of the total global production. That's very thin. Only 6% is that's why in 1997 we had the money but we could not buy rice. It was the El Nino year. Imagine that. If that 30 million tons can easily be absorbed by China And India. So unless we really hit a certain level of self-sufficiency in rice, maybe not 100 but definitely not 70% because we are going to be very insecure in terms of staple, notwithstanding our efforts to also introduce corn into our diet. There are countries which deliberately lower their food, staple, self-sufficiency levels and they were affected in 2008. They had the money but they could not buy anything because all the exporting countries withheld their supplies. So anyway, your rice white corn blend, white corn, it's not yellow corn. We know that yellow corn is good, it has vitamin A. But why white corn is used? What is the variety of it? Is it developed by the IPV? White corn is affected by rice culture. The color. The color is the problem. But nutritionally, clinically, it's really better. Unfortunately, the yellow corn is associated with the feed because it's more sustainable for animals. But for humans, it's also sustainable. The problem is that it's cultural. That's why science is really needed, dissemination too. So the yellow corn is more sustainable, definitely. It's thicker. For one thing, it's thicker. That's why we're looking for the white and the softer the texture, the closer the rice is. Well, there's a way to soften the corn. Oh, I already tried that. You said you can do that. It's cultural. It has a lot of accessibility. So how can we convince the people? Because there are other regions that you mentioned earlier. For example, if they eat a lot of corn, it's okay. How can we convince the people in the Philippines? We are also joined by Dean Terebelasco of Calis of Defcom Development Communications. So the approach that people should be able to see is that those who are rich, those who are educated, they should be able to eat corn. They should be able to see it. That's what I need to know. And we are also talking about eating corn. That's why when we go to the house, we eat corn there. They need to visit me, they're pretty. But is the rice white corn available? Yes, it's available in the UPLB. But there's a private sector that shows interest. They can be interested in commercializing. So they will buy a machine and do what they want to do. But they won't buy it in the supermarket? Soon. We expect it by before the year ends to be available in the supermarket. How many hectares are planted in white corn? That's another issue. Because in the corn, the total corn area is 2.5 million hectares. The yellow and white are hatties. But the yellow yield, sir, the ones with BT corn, the round-up ready, only half are hatties, only 1.25 million hectares. But in the corn, this is 1.25 million. But in the yield, compared to the yellow, about 4, the white corn, there's no 2. So if you only double the yield then... You can export rice. Oh, there it is. So we don't even have to install irrigation facility. So actually what the government is doing in terms of and our partners doing in research, we weren't preparing for a rice exporting scenario. If we will only accept corn. That's a good example of an unbalanced investment in breeding crops. There's too much money being put in rice and very little in the other crops, including corn. We need to look at our investments in this particular area because I think later on we can say that there are other crops that will also give us higher value in terms of returns, that we are not even doing anything in terms of breeding because most of the money is being placed in rice. So back to rice, are we really sacred for rice in other communities or provinces? Especially in Luson? Yes, especially in Luson. Oh, oh. Rice is very much embedded in our culture. That's undeniable and if you look at all the Asian countries, the only common thread is rice. They have different religions but India, China, Japan, Korea and even Central Asia. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, they eat rice. So the common thread is rice and it's also a political crop. So that really needs to be understood well by those who are framing the policies and those who are trying to manage the change so that the diets will be a balance of rice and corn or a mix of rice and corn. So can you explain that, what do you mean by rice being political? Well, it has been a main source of calories of rural folks in the areas, in many areas of Asia because they plant it where they live. And therefore the distribution issue is not really affected very much. It's already there, they harvest it. They can store it. If you harvest it in palai and then you just mill what you want, you can store it for a long time. So it has and then they also use it because they can store it. If their daughter gets sick or somebody gets sick, they liquefy it. They sell it and it's converted into cash. That's why in some areas, when I was working at Erie, in some very challenged adverse soil areas, they could not convince the farmers to stop planting rice because it gave them some sense of security. And also of course, because it gives them a sense of security, if the government policies don't support the production of rice very well, then as I said, there's a hungry man. He's an angry man and that will cause the instability of the political system. So we need to, it's still a main source of calories in many areas of Asia. And as I recall, the Burmese people have probably the highest consumption. They consume per capita about four sacks of rice. A sack is 50 kilos. So when you say Kaban, it is only 44 kilos. So you have to make sure you're talking about the same thing. They're not interchangeable. So I'd like to point out what you said about calories being what's important to farmers for local communities. Yet we know in nutrition that it's not calories that we're after. We're after other macronutrients and micronutrients important to build our bones, our muscles to feed our brains, etc. So I think it's important for us to mount what we call a nationwide education for nutrition on what is nutritious and healthy for our population. And that might begin with what Dr. Tere Velasco is doing regarding rice white corn in the study groups in the UP Los Baños community. So can you tell us a little bit more about that? Okay, the group of Dr. Tere Velasco is really studying how to effectively come across the message to the people the nutritional merits of eating corn or rice corn blend. And basically it will involve a lot of nutrition work. Her colleague Dr. Wilma Hortada is the lady from the teacher of human nutrition and food is the one working on that feeding children, school children, malnourished, and even the abetics. So now we have the data through the EIDR project emerging interdisciplinary research. We now have the data, the solid data, the first local solid data on the merits of feeding malnourished and the abetics with corn. And so if we could present it in a very understandable way to the people then they might have a second look at corn. Not anymore as poor man's food because that was the problem. How could we remove from their mind that this is food for the poor and this is food for the animals? We have to disabuse that thing from the mind of our people. If we could convince them that this is a nutritious food and only by accepting that could we hope that sooner, not later, we could be self-sufficient in food. I just have to comment on what you said about the food security issue of the local rice farmers. We have the same findings in local corn. We found out that most of our compatriots eating white corn are the farmers themselves. It is their insurance against hunger because it's not irrigated, it's rain-fed, and it's easy to store, then they do not sell it well because not many people like it anyway but they keep it for their food security. That's why even though they are poor they have something to it. And so they will not part with their corn. It's telling us the beliefs, the values of communities. They really arise from nature. In Central Ozon where you have the valley, then rice evolved as the staple. Namansa mountainous where there's no irrigation corn. I'd like to dwell a little bit more on corn because again in nutrition it's important to grow and grow. Go is for energy, carbohydrates generally. Grow is for protein. Protein is to build your muscles and bones etc. And then glow of course is all micronutrients including vitamins. So this brings me now to the other kind of food or agricultural products that we need to invest in in our country. Though I said that we're focusing on agricultural crops, the big impact on our livestock industry, particularly hog industry and poultry industry is the big impact on corn. Because these animals are fed with corn and that's also the bias. So humans don't like to eat corn because it's raw and animal food. So anyway I think at this point we have to discuss another technological issue. It's become a social political issue and that is GMOs or genetically modified organisms. And many of you probably have heard of BT corn and more recently BT eggplant or BT talong. So I'll ask you first about BT corn. What is the impact on our hog and poultry industry? Is it positive? Okay BT refers to the bacteria that used corn borer which is the number one insect pest of corn in the Philippines. The insect is the cause of death. Because the gut condition of the person and the insect is different. We are not the basic insect or alkaline. So the basic constitution that became the reason why the use of corn borer is fatal, but the use of people is not a big difference. So what happened when BT was introduced, farmers didn't grow corn after corn. Because when they were making second crops, the corn borer's life cycle was only 30 days. They had the next generation of borer to eat on the next crop of corn. So what happened is when BT corn was available, they could use second good corn harvest. That's why our production of corn was increased. So with more corn for the feed industry, more feed for the hogs and poultry industry. So the supply of our hogs and poultry was increased. Because there was a supply, we used to import. And market forces, the supply was bigger, the price was lower, it was more affordable. Protein was provided to grow nutrients for our farmers. So the BT bacillus to regensis, what I know is it's a ubiquitous soil bacterium. That's why bio-pesticide was used. First, it was cultured, it was put in medium, then it was sprayed as a dipel. So it was thought, why would we die if it was sprayed? So that's true genetic engineering, it was put in corn. So if you spray it as a dipel, you won't be able to put it in. So if the borer gets stuck, the borer will die. So that's the beauty of this technology. That's biotechnology that targeted the gene that was incorporated into the crop. Then the crop that was produced today, it was called toxin. It was targeted in the gut of the fruit and stem borer. That's why the information that we received was called toxin. Oh, that's wrong, it's toxin. But actually, it's a protein that's harmful to the borer, it's not toxic to the person. In fact, they put it in sweet corn. So it means it's really safe. So that's the beauty, it's also used to attack the egg plant. So now, there's a beauty egg plant that's been developed by the U.P. Los Baños for our egg plant varieties. I can understand the gene that came from India, right? Okay, now the egg plant, that's our veggie, right? Is it true that that is one of our most important vegetables in the country, affordable by the general population? In fact, the statistics show it is the number one vegetable. And before B.T. Talong was introduced, I was told you have to soak the fruit about 64 times in pesticide before it is harvested. So if you see a shiny, beautiful looking egg plant that's not B.T., it's probably treated a number of times with pesticide. So you're ingesting the pesticide, too. Now, which one is safer? Do you have the B.T. egg plant, which does not affect anything in your gut? Or would you rather have the pesticide-treated egg plant? So I look at it statistically. A lot of GMO foods that reach the market or our shelves. For example, every time you eat a corn chip, that's almost sure that's a B.T. corn corn, okay? Then there is soy milk, all over the world, in the Tokwa. So there was a long period when the European countries would bar GMO soy from I think from Latin America, but now they accept it. And then there's tomato. So there's GMO tomato in cans. We have a lot of tomato sauce, tomato products there. You can be sure it's this long shelf life GMO tomato, right? Okay, so when you consider how many cases have been reported of allergies to GMO foods versus those that have not caused allergy, it's like a small percentage affected by GMOs. And it's not really that well documented. So there's a lot of science that helps us to secure our food. We really need to make an investment there, and it's really important for people. Now, one more thing we need is people. That's what people are going to do. We need scientists and the enrollment in agriculture in agricultural schools is not good. Most of them are women. In the whole world? In the whole world. In my opinion, because there's a reputation of agriculture that is low-tech, dirty, you will be back breaking, tedious farm life. So even farmers' children are not encouraged to return to the farms anymore. So our rural population is becoming geriatric, elderly. But they're not going to last for long. All of us will have to be given the boarding pass. And we need to produce food. You cannot produce food without soil. And you have to make sure that there will be people who will manage that because they will not grow spontaneously. So I think we also need to campaign for more Filipino youth to take up careers in agriculture. Contrary to what the common understanding is, agriculture is a knowledge-intensive activity. You cannot be successful in farming. And even the common farmer, he has to have a knowledge bank where he knows when to plant, what to plant, when to water, when to harvest, what to observe when you're going through the field, if it is getting infected or yes. And also what the market is going to do to require. All of that put together is really a lot of knowledge. And people have to be trained to look at the whole system. So I think the talent deficit in agriculture has to be addressed. And at the rate that we are being ranked in the Global Food Security Index, it's very scary because we moved from 68 to 74 out of 113 countries in four years. From 2012, we will rank 68. 2016, we are now 74. That's a big movement, big slide. So, and that's the same pool of countries of 113. I don't think we should allow that to move any further down the line and resign ourselves to just importing food. Dr. Padulina, I recall that in the 60s and 70s, Uplos Baños was a leading center of research in agriculture and we actually trained so many Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysians, Indonesians, and Chinese who then became the research leaders in their countries. So I think what happened in the last 30 years was a lack of, you might say political will, to continue investing in research, principally in developing the experts in the field of agriculture. So now I think it's the time to rally the government to make that investment. I know there are many technologies in Uplos Baños that should reach the market. For example, in your research on delayed ripening papaya. And then you have this other field of research that has produced a lot of products relating to organic farming. So Uplos Baños Biotech has a lot of products on organic fertilizers and they're actually mycorrhizae, fungi, and bacteria, nitrogen-fixing bacteria. So what Art said to me earlier, the technology to begin with, naturally, when we don't have chemical fertilizers, that's how our farming is. So maybe we can tell our friends more about our products. We're not talking about modern agriculture, we're not talking about genetic engineering. So sometimes, in traditional, we can get a lot of them, like those inoculants. So in business, pure chemical fertilizer, that's where the microorganisms are. So you'll purify them, you'll just culture them, enhance their capacity to fix, to make available, the nutrients which were not available. So we can help them. Plus our native varieties that show resistance to climate change stress, like too much or too little of water, acidity, alkalinity. UV radiation. So those are the new research we're doing. But back then, you mentioned the Chinese who studied there. I remember that. The U.P. L.B. in the sugar. Because the sugar of Vietnamese, Thailand, China, when they're together now, the good thing about them is that they're lost. They're lost in other areas of the day. So in our capacity, that's why we have a lot of important components. So why are we here now? But I think we're not going to be able to slide now. Not really. But what I always give is an example of the reversibility of science and technology enterprise. You might be surprised, but if you give back the support, we'll be able to slide it back. That's what we're seeing now in other countries. There are political movements that reduce the budget of science. Scientists are also afraid because it's really a big impact. We can also have the opportunity to pay for the agriculture. And the science and technology part, research and development part of agriculture is not very important to me. It's also a concern for people who hope to have the responsibility to understand and understand the importance of agriculture and the importance of giving support. That's why I think we're not lacking in the interests of continuing research and development in agriculture. So I hope that there will be a revival. We are not only in UPLB, but also in other universities in the country, in state universities and colleges that also have a high capacity for agriculture. And in other aspects of agriculture, like what Giselle said earlier, the livestock and poultry and fisheries. Next time, we'll talk about it. We can talk about it a lot in agriculture, but now we need to invite our children to commit to studying agriculture. Very, very attractive and sophisticated in agriculture, biotechnology. We have a course like that in UP Los Baños, right? We discussed water requirements, agriculture, irrigation. We also discussed nutritional requirements from the soil, nitrogen. Of course, we know NPK, so phosphorus and potassium. So there's also chemical fertilizers. I'm a chemist and I believe that a good combination of organic and chemical fertilizer is the right thing to pursue. Because there are a lot of productive agricultural countries there, made use of chemical fertilizers, but delivered in the right amounts. Not flooded with a chemical fertilizer that will be leached into the water. So there's a way to do that through technologies. Precision farming. Precision farming. Now, climate change. You are the expert on climate change. Bench, what do you think we should do for our crops? Because of the temperature and the light. Well, we need to study a lot, but the responses are different. When it comes to rice, it's good to continue producing when it's high in nighttime temperatures. Oh my God. So our agricultural practices are really adjusting. And when rice is developing, it's good to produce a lot of protein. It must be hot. Even if it's hot in nighttime temperatures. What about greenhouse? Is that also possible? Not for rice, but for say high value crops? High value crops. It's all light, temperature, and all that. We have to use all the tricks, all the mechanisms. But the situation in every place in the Philippines is different. And I just want to add that the problem of agriculture is not only in the college of agriculture, but also in the land. Just like what we said, we are thinking about precision agriculture. We need a lot of engineering. That's why we need to take care of other disciplines. Is physics also included, sir? Physics is also included. Not only that, but interdiscipline. Social scientists, our legal system, our so-called agrarian. That's why our program here in the U.P. is really good. Interdiscipline. Interdiscipline research. That's why we need to give substance to the approach. Because the problems are really complex now. We can't do it alone. We can't do it alone. We can't do it alone. We can't do it with farmers. There are agri-coops. But if the coops have equipment, it's not well-trained. How do you use the equipment and how do you manage the farmers? It's not going to result in great productivity. Anyway, our program is really good now. It's been a short time. Next, we will continue our discussion. And I'm sure we will include the other aspects of agriculture here. Thank you so much to all of you, ladies who are watching us today. Thank you so much to our two distinguished guests, experts in agriculture. Benj. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed the presentation. And you will be interested in the agriculture that will pass on to the business that we really need for you.