AG:GCP/RAS/186/JPN Field Document No. 2006/05 FAO/GOVERNMENT COOPERATIVE PROGRAMME FINAL REPORT ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL INFORMATION SHARING MECHANISM (NISM) ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GLOBAL PLAN OF ACTION (GPA) FOR THE CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry Written by Solita R. Sicat, Nestor C. Altoveros and Teresita H. Borromeo January, 2007 Acknowledgement The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) would like to acknowledge the different stakeholders who participated in the endeavor of establishing the database of the Philippines’ plant genetic resources holdings through the use of the FAO’s created information system, the National Information Sharing Mechanism (NISM). These are, 1) the different National Crop Research and Development Centers of BPI namely, BPI-Baguio NCRDC, BPI-Davao NCRDC, BPI-La Granja GNCRDC, BPI- Los Baños NCRDC, BPI-Guimaras NMRDC, and its Central Office divisions, BPI- Crop Research Division (BPI-CRD), BPI-National Seed Quality Control Services (NSQCS) and BPI-Crop Production Division (BPI-CRD); 2) Central Mindanao University (CMU); 3) DA-Southern Tagalog Integrated Agricultural Research Center (DA-STIARC); 4) DENR-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR- ERDB); 5) Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU); 6) Department of Agronomy, U.P.L.B (DOA-UPLB), 7) Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (MMSU); 8) National Abaca Research Center-Leyte State University (NARC); 9) National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory-IPB (IPB-NPGRL); 10) National Tobacco Administration (NTA); 11) Philippine Coconut Authority - Zamboanga Research Center (PCA-ZRC); 12) PhilIppine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice); 14) Philippines Root Crop Research and Training Center (PhilRootcrops); 15) Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE); 16) Sugar Regulatory Administration, La Granja Agricultural Research and Extension Center (SRA-LGAREC) and 17) Western Philippines University (WPU). These stakeholders, through their representatives, coordinated with BPI until this final report was submitted to FAO. BPI would also like to give its sincerest gratitude to the following: To Mr. Ceferino A. Baniqued who led the implementation of the project until his retirement in 2005. To Ms. Ma. Leah H. Villavicencio and Ms. Visitacion Huelgas who acted as facilitators in the three National Stakeholders’ Consultation Workshops conducted by BPI for this project; To the Japanese Government for their funding support to the FAO GCP/RAS/186/JPN Project; And last but not the least to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the technical support they have provided in the implementation of the project. To all of you, thank you very much. National Focal Person GCP/RAS/186/JPN Project, Philippines ii Executive Summary The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) of the Philippines undertook the FAO/Government Cooperative project Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Asia and the Pacific Region to draw/assess the current status of PGRFA in order to fill information gaps, to identify their needs and priorities for the conservation and sustainable utilization of PGRFA, to improve national capacity in monitoring PGRFA activities, and to share with the region successful experiences in the implementation of GPA priority activity areas related to in situ conservation and on farm management. A total of 35 participants from 32 member-institutions of the Philippine National Network on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture participated in three national consultation workshops and meetings on the Establishment of the National Information Sharing Mechanism for the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (NISM-GPA). The first consultation workshop in 2003 aimed to develop a strategy for the establishment of the NISM, define the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders in the establishment of the NISM, review and revise, if necessary, the information in the “common tables” of the reporting format and recommend adoption of the information gathered/generated, develop a plan of action for implementation and in the process, assessed the status of the PGRFA Network and determine its needs and priorities; and train SHs on the use of NISM-GPA computer application software. The second meeting in 2004 aimed to start the establishment of the national GPA-NISM, further define roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and the national focal person, discuss and distribute the reporting format and to agree on the kind of information to gather and share, train SHs on the use of the NISM-GPA computer application and distribute the SH’s version of the NISM-GPA computer application for the SHs to answer the questions and update the information to the Common Tables, and develop and agree on a work plan for gathering the needed information and the submission of data for compilation and submission to FAO. The third meeting in 2006 aimed to review and finalize the draft reports for submission to FAO (the Draft Report of the Establishment of the NISM on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in the Philippines, and the Draft Report of the Current State and Future Priority for the Conservation and Utilization of PGRFA in the Philippines), discuss achievements, constraints and suggestion to improve the NISM, and discuss the next steps and future plans in the implementation of the NISM by agreeing on a strategy for regular updating and maintenance in continuity of the NISM in the Philippines, including the use of the iii NISM webpage for sharing information and for publishing the work, and identifying needs for the successful establishment of the NISM. A Steering Committee was created by the NFP for the smooth implementation of the project, consisting of the core team members of the PNNPGRFA, BPI staff and a representative from a non-government organization. Surveying and inventorying of PGRFA conducted by five institutions on 26 crops using qualitative and quantitative survey techniques showed that most of the traditional varieties of crops are threatened due to the introduction of formal variety releases, land conversion, habitat and human destruction, tan barking and charcoal making in mangrove, weather disturbances, local/internal conflict, lack of knowledge on proper utilization of forest resources and expansion of ecotourism areas. To address these concerns, it was suggested that establishment of an information system for the survey and inventory of PGRFA and training on computer operation and information systems were needed. Projects on on-farm management and improvement of PGRFA of 9 crops were conducted. There was low integration of on-farm management into the national programme, and limitations to on-farm management were attributed to insufficient seed or planting material, insufficient number of staff, insufficient financial support, and on-farm management and improvement of PGRFA not being a national priority. Activities to assist farmers in disaster situations were led by the Department of Agriculture and were also conducted by government and non-government organizations. The constraints identified were insufficient financial support and unavailability of the germplasm for reintroduction and restoration. There are several legislations in place to promote the in situ conservation of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production. Funding and capacity builidng were identified as necessary for the activity. Twenty-two stakeholders conducted 74 projects that sustained existing ex situ collections. Twenty-one stakeholders maintain 50,082 accessions of 851 taxa, with 2,222 accessions safety-duplicated. Sixteen non-stakeholder agencies hold 122,880 accessions of 265 taxa, with the International Rice Research Institute holding the overwhelming majority at 116,28 accessions of Oryza. Conservation strategies include field genebanks (15 stakeholders), seed stores (7 stakeholders), in vitro (6 stakeholders) and pollen (1 stakeholder). Stock inventories and viability monitoring are performed regularly, and 6 stakeholders use computer-based information systems. Major constraints were funding, insufficient staff, lack of training and facilities and occurrence of pests and diseases. Characterization and evaluation, maintenance of field genebanks, collecting in areas with high enetic erosion and retrieval of lost collections should be given attention. iv Six projects performed regeneration of PGRFA using standard protocols. The high cost of regeneration was a major constraint. A total of 12 collecting missions were done by 6 stakeholders on 9 crops. Priority species for collecting were identified. There is no policy for targeted collecting of rare, endangered or threatened species. To expand ex situ conservation activities, national network has identified the need to undertake in vitro conservation, cryopreservation and ultra-dry seed storage, the need to expand ex situ conservation activities for other wild food species, and inventory and collection of threatened species. Seventeen stakeholders conducted 40 ex situ projects on characterization and evaluation of PGRFA in 53 taxa.