PH Agriculture – The Innovation That NAST Forgot But PRRD Did Not!

In this Digital Age, innovation, or creativity, is a must – you must be living in the past if you did not believe so!

After pointing out sadly yesterday (Monday) in my blog that the National Academy of Science & Technology (NAST) did not consider Agriculture as an area for Innovation (see my essay, “With Pagtanaw 2050, NAST Dreams Blue; With His 22” ViewSonic, Frank Dreams Green[1],” 27 Dec 2021, RegINA, Queen Mother Earth), I am glad to find out today (Tuesday) that 2 years ago yet, PRRD was quite innovative and signed Republic Act (RA) 11293 (“Philippine Innovation Act”) on 17 April 2019.

One of the policies in the Implementing Rules & Regulations for RA 11293 as contained in the “Joint NEDA-DOST-DTI Administrative Order No. 01 Series Of 2020” is this:

The State recognizes the importance of an effective and efficient innovation ecosystem that addresses and delivers action in various policy areas, including MSME development, education, trade, investment, finance, and agriculture, sustainable energy, climate change, among others. (my underline)

No doubt agriculture is important, nay necessary in the life of a nation – and innovation should make it more so in the name of the 100 million Filipino citizens!

The above image shows Mr Dar interacting with Batch 69 of his alma mater in the Santa Maria campus of the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College. The occasion is the inauguration of the Dr William Dollente Dar Research & Innovation Center.

Mr Dar is from a poor family in Danuman West, Santa Maria. Unhappily his family could not send him to high school and on to college, but happily his uncle Agustin did. He took his elementary grades and high school at the now ISPSC – with that Innovation Center, there is a mutual statement, “Thank you!”

He finished BS Agriculture major in Education at the Benguet State University (BSU), where he rose from the ranks to Vice President of BSU. From there, Mr Dar was so good at R&D that he became the founding Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research in 1987 and stayed until 1994, when in the same year he became the Director General of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD). He was DG for PCARRD until 1998. R&D was where he showed his innovativeness.

In 2000, he became the Director General (DG) of the India-based International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Unprecedented, he was DG for 15 years (3 terms); from innovation to innovation, during his term, Jan 2000-Dec 2014, he brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among the 15 agricultural research agencies under the CGIAR.

You can gauge William Dar’s innovativeness at ICRISAT by this Vision/Mission/Slogan alone: “Science with a human face.”

If I understand the process of innovation well, as the above superimposed image of the re-invented bicycle shows (image[2] from FutureLearn.com), you introduce something new to the old and make it better – with the bicycle, it will run better and/or look better. Surely, innovation should make anybody proud!@517


[1]https://reginaqueenmotherearth.blogspot.com/2021/12/with-pagtanaw-2050-nast-dreams-blue.html

[2]https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-worlds-greatest-innovations

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