The Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office No. 02 bagged six awards in the 31st Regional Symposium on R&DE Highlights during the virtual 42nd CVAARRD Anniversary Celebration on December 18.
DA RFO 02 was one of the seven consortium member institutions of the Cagayan Valley Agriculture, Aquatic and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CVAARRD) that competed during the said symposium.
Under the Research Category, DA-Southern Cagayan Research Center (DA-SCRC) researchers garnered first place for their R&D project on “Performance Evaluation of Mechanized and Conventional Transplanting using New Release Varieties of Inbred Rice under Different Local Conditions”; DA-Cagayan Valley Research Center (DA-CVRC) researchers reaped second place for the R&D project on “Open Pollinated Corn Varietal Development in Region 02: A continuing effort to boost the corn industry thru market-driven breeding”; and Quirino State University researchers landed third place for their project on “Tree Diversity and Timber Resources Assessment in Secondary Forests of Quirino Landscape Project, Philippines”.
For Best Papers under the Development Category, Isabela State University ranked first place for their “Perceptions, Resilience, and Adoptive Capacity of Households to Climate Extremes in the 6th District of Isabela”; DA-CVRC is second place for their “Processing Technology Improvement and Commercialization of Peanut Food Products in Region 02”; DA-Nueva Vizcaya Experiment Station (DA-NVES) and Research Division grabbed third place for their “Community-based Participatory Action Research on Off-season Onion Production and Enterprise Development in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya”.
Under the Best Poster Category, DA-CVRC bagged first place, Nueva Vizcaya State University garnered second place, and DA-NVES & Research Division garnered third place.
Winners were awarded plaques of recognition and cash prizes.
As the winner of the Best R&D Paper for Research Category, Engr. Bon Jovi Madayag, one of the lead researchers of Best R&D Paper for Research Category delivered a response speech emphasizing the importance of commercializing mechanization technologies to reduce production cost and be at par with neighboring countries.
“I would like to thank the DA RFO 02 family for the support and CVAARRD for the opportunity to present the salient findings of our study emphasizing on its contribution to the rice industry,” Engr. Madayag continued.
In his message, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña underscored the significant role of the Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources (AANR) sector in addressing the eight (8) of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which fall under the domain of the sector.
“The consortium is also another way of pushing inclusive development. Consortia all over the region particularly under AANR would expect more support from us,” Dela Peña added.
Meanwhile, DA-CVRC’s project on “Improvement of Mungbean Seed Production and Management System in Region 02: Verification Trial on Hermetic Seed Storage Technology of Mungbean Certified and Farm-saved Seeds in Region 02” was likewise recognized during the celebration as one of the projects virtually validated for the 2020 Ugnay Award.
The 42nd CVAARRD Anniversary Virtual Celebration is hosted by Isabela State University (ISU) as the seat of the consortium. # # # (Text by Jonabelle Infante & photo by Johny Tumaliuan / DA-RFO II, RAFIS)
