Tags: Health Issues, Research and Development, Technology
By Anna Valmero
TAGUIG CITY, METRO MANILA— For 2012, the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) will implement its five-point development program with focus on the use of local technology for agriculture, energy, service delivery and genomics.
DoST Secretary Mario Montejo said that the first in the five-point agenda is hinged on opening up more public-private partnerships (PPPs) to solve pressing national problems using local technology.
Through PPPs, the agency will rely on private partners to research on cheap and effective solutions to malnutrition, rice shortage, coral reef rehabilitation and red tide management, disaster mitigation and the Fusarium wilt that damage banana farms, among others.
This early, the DoST is partnering with resort owners in Bohol and the local fisherfolk of Pangasinan to develop a nursery for farming corals and replanting damaged reef areas.
The pilot project will also be implemented in Leyte, Batangas and two sites in Mindanao, Montejo said
Experts from the DoST will teach the community and the partners how to maintain a nursery and how to rehabilitate reefs using farmed coral.
“The beauty here is that community and the local resort owners see the benefits of the project that it would mean more fish to catch sustainably and more avenues for ecotourism such as scuba diving and snorkeling,” Montejo said.
Control of the frequency of fishing and the use of sustainable fishing practices will also be taught to local communities as part of the reef rehabilitation program. Second in the agenda is the development of appropriate technologies to create growth in the countryside such as food processing technologies and smart farms.
Talking about “smart farms,” Montejo said that they will install water monitoring devices in fish farms to identify the number of fish that can be optimally grown per pond to avoid fish kills and reduce the use of fertilizers while improving yield.
By next year, the DoST will install 1,000 water sensors that will measure temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen of the water in areas with fish ponds, Montejo said.
The official added that the agency will also aim to improve industry competitiveness particularly in the prototyping of the automated gateway transit system for public transport and produce better graduates for the outsourcing, electronics and renewable energy industry.
The automated gateway transit system has two potential pilot sites: the road from Bicutan to C6 in Taguig City and the University of the Philippines Diliman. By January, the DoST will open the bidding for the construction of the test tracks, which will be eventually used for the mass transport, Montejo said.
Under the fourth agenda, the DoST aims to enhance the delivery of government and social services, particularly the Government Broadband Network, National Telehealth Services, and the National 3D Mapping. The broadband network is aimed to help the outsourcing industry and the education sector to harness the power of the Internet for delivering services and training.
The 3D maps will be used to plot geographical information systems and would be used to study demographics and to mitigate disasters.
“President Benigno Aquino III has ordered us to be able to warn the people in vulnerable areas six hours before the flood swells up or when the water starts rising. For this, we would be installing water level sensors in addition to the automated weather stations,” Montejo said.
The fifth agenda hinges on the use of genomics to sequence the genetic makeup of Filipinos, agriculture crops and wildlife.
Following the launch of the Philippine Genomics Center (PGC) last December, the DoST will tap the expertise of Filipino Balik Scientists who are genome experts as well as get advice from its international board of directors on the prospects of using further biotechnology, nanotechnology and robotics in local industries.
Through the PGC, the agency will study the genetic makeup of Filipinos to know how susceptible is the population to diseases such as cancer and heart attacks. Through this, doctors will also know the response of the body to certain drugs so they would move to more effective and personalized diagnostics, Montejo said.
“Our motto has always been ‘local technology works.’ As such we will always promote local technologies toward the nurturing of an environment that addresses the special needs of technology-based entrepreneurship,” the official said.
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