For his many contributions that have had unprecedented impact on agriculture, Dr. Ramon C. Barba, now 72, was awarded the 2011 Umali Award by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) last Wednesday in Los Baños. The plant scientist from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) is the first Filipino to receive the award and the third recipient in Southeast Asia. The $10,000-award, given to outstanding Southeast Asian scientists, is named after the late National Scientist Dioscoro L. Umali, a founding Director of SEARCA and former Assistant Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Foremost among Barba’s researches was a breakthrough discovery in 1974 of mango flower induction by potassium nitrate, making it possible for fruits to be available all year round.
The use of potassium nitrate is low-cost and benefits both farmers and consumers: flower production is profuse and fruit production can be programmed according to market demands. "Although Dr. Barba holds a patent for this technology, he has foregone royalties due him so that mango farmers can use it without additional cost," the award observed. "Dr. Barba is known to perceive simple solutions to complex problems and produce results with minimum resources," the citation noted. "His research on induced mango flowering was a private initiative that cost less than P500 to complete." His achievements include banana micropropagation and sugarcane and calamansi tissue culture; all have impact on the agribusiness potentials of these crops in the world market.
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FreshPlaza.com
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