VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHML #0753/01 0861002
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261002Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0236

UNCLAS MANILA 000753 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB 
USAID PASS ROB BERTRAM, USAID/EGAT/ESP/IRB, JOHN WILSON, 
USAID/ANE/TS, KRISTIN BORK, USAID/ANE/EAA 
USDA FOR FAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON EAGR RP
SUBJECT:  AMBASSADOR'S VISIT TO LOS BANOS HIGHLIGHTS AGRICULTURAL 
PROGRESS 
 
¶1.  Summary.  During a March 10 visit to Los Banos, the Ambassador 
attended three events that celebrated longstanding American support 
for agriculture and higher education in the Philippines.  At the 
University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB), she was 
enthusiastically received as she spoke to over fifty U.S.-educated 
scholars and researchers.  The Ambassador marked the progress on 
tests of locally developed, U.S.-funded biotechnology crops now 
growing in confined field trials at the university's Institute of 
Plant Breeding (IPB).  Finally, the Ambassador met with the director 
of the International Rice Research Institute to acknowledge the 
USG's longstanding support of the institute and hear their concerns 
for future funding.  End Summary. 
 
LOS BANOS, SCIENCE AND NATURE 
CENTER OF THE PHILIPPINES 
 
¶2.  The college town of Los Banos in Laguna Province neighbors Metro 
Manila and boasts a population of over 80,000.  It hosts UPLB, along 
with local, foreign, and international research centers, the most 
prominent of which are IRRI, the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, and 
the Philippine Rice Research Institute.  Los Banos is home to 
thousands of students, researchers and expatriates.  The city, 
nestled on the slopes of the densely forested Mount Makiling, is 
also a popular tourist destination due to its natural hot spring 
resorts with therapeutic hot baths.  In order to protect the local 
ecosystem, the national government has banned heavy industry in the 
region, with only small scale industries allowed to operate.  Chief 
among these are furniture making, metal craft, garment production, 
and food products processing. 
 
UPLB: A CENTURY OF U.S. PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶3.  At the invitation of UPLB Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco, the 
Ambassador delivered a speech to the school's leaders and over 50 
U.S.-trained scholars and researchers currently working at the 
institution.  Noting the bi-national history of the school that 
renowned American botanist and agriculturist Edwin Copeland founded 
in 1909, Chancellor Velasco thanked the United States as the 
school's most important ally and mentor.  Since its founding, UPLB 
has deepened its ties with the United States by developing an 
exchange program with Cornell University, receiving research grants 
from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, producing hundreds of 
Fullbright scholars, and partnering with various USG agencies on a 
range of development activities.  The Ambassador's remarks 
emphasized the history of cooperation and the continued support of 
the United States for the University.  She acknowledged the school's 
plans to construct an "American Pioneer Professors" park on the 
campus, and congratulated the school on its nearly one hundred years 
of success. 
 
U.S.-SUPPORTED BIOTECH DEVELOPMENT: 
FROM GREENHOUSE TO FIELD 
 
¶4.  Highlighting the progress of a two-year, $1.1 million 
USAID-funded program, and returning to the site where she signed the 
initial agreement two years prior, the Ambassador spoke at a 
ceremony at IPB.  Hosted by IPB Director Dr. Jose E. Hernandez, the 
Ambassador celebrated the successful migration from laboratories to 
closed-fields for testing of locally developed biotech papayas and 
eggplants that are resistant to viruses and pests.  Filipinos 
consume more papayas than any other fruit except for bananas, and 
eggplant is the largest vegetable crop in the country.  Should the 
field tests prove successful, these new varieties could have a major 
positive economic impact on the agricultural sector as well as 
reduce the need for harmful pesticides.  Dr. Hernandez anticipates 
making these crops commercially available to farmers as early as 
late-2009.  The Ambassador complimented the talent of the local 
scientists and expressed admiration for the Philippines' standing as 
having the tenth highest amount of land--over 300,000 
hectares--dedicated to biotechnology crops. 
 
PROMOTING RICE FOR A BETTER WORLD 
 
¶5.  Ambassador Kenney met American Director General Dr. Robert 
Zeigler at IRRI, located adjacent to UPLB.  Established in 1960, 
IRRI is the oldest and largest autonomous, non-profit international 
agricultural research institute in the world.  Its mission is to 
reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice farmers and 
consumers, and ensure the environmental sustainability of rice 
production.  Dr. Zeigler briefed the Ambassador on IRRI's research 
and development agenda and led a tour of the select facilities, 
including long-term trial fields and the International Rice Gene 
Bank.  The visit was capped by a lunch with the American community 
at IRRI. 
 
¶6.  The IRRI visit included discussion of IRRI's current funding 
situation.  For over three decades, the USG, mostly through USAID, 
has been a major supporter of IRRI, with cumulative contributions 
 
since 1970 approaching $200 million, and USAID unrestricted core 
funding averaging $3.4 million since FY2000.  However, during the 
week prior to the visit, USAID announced that funding would be cut 
from $2.7 million in FY2007 to zero in FY2008.  The prospective 
funding cut, while not yet final, is due to overall reductions in 
agricultural research combined with high congressional earmarks.  In 
response to IRRI's concerns, Ambassador Kenney and USAID officials 
made several suggestions to Dr. Ziegler on how he might explain 
IRRI's need for funding, and Dr. Ziegler announced that he plans to 
visit Washington in April 2008 to meet with appropriate officials, 
including senior officials at USAID and in the Bureau of Economic, 
Energy and Business Affairs. 
 
KENNEY