BPI to Embark on Farmer's Health and Pesticide Residue Study
in Benguet
GDD
The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the University of the Philippines-Manila will embark on a collaborative project to explore the health status and pesticide exposure of farmers in nine municipalities of Benguet. The project which will start in the second half of November 2007 and will run for five years, aims to collect hard data to determine the effects of the current pesticide use of farmers to their over-all health status. It will also investigate the presence of pesticide in the air, water and soil.
The local government, UP-Manila, BPI and the Department of Agriculture hopes to use the information gathered in making policy decisions and as an avenue in order to improve Filipino farmers' health and competitiveness of its vegetables in the local and international markets; and guard the Philippines' environmental sustainability.
Director Joel S. Rudinas said that BPI's management
is ready to provide the needed institutional support and technical
backup the project requires. Likewise, Ms. Susana Gonzalo, BPI's
Chief of Laboratory Services Division, expressed her staff's
preparedness in tackling the demands on the undertaking.
Jathropa
While many may be cursing the ever spiraling
cost of fuel and energy, the Bureau of Plant Industry is
in the thick of knowing which place in the country has the most
Jatropha and also where in the country could be found the
most of seeds in a Jatropha fruit.
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Quarantine Treatment Facility to Boost Export
The Bureau
of Plant Industry-Plant Quarantine Service, through the leadership
of BPI Director Joel S. Rudinas and PQS Chief Larry R. Lacson,
has recently started the construction of its new 91-square meter
treatment facility and screen house. Located behind the Plant
Quarantine Service-Central Office at the Bureau of Plant Industry
compound, the treatment facility will provide exporters a place
where they can bring their commodities such as ornamentals, live
plants or fruit tree seedlings for appropriate treatment before
the goods are shipped out of the country. . . . more