USAID funnels $80K grant for ‘miracle sugar’ research

MANILA, Philippines - A research project by a group from the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) on the efficient organic farming of “miracle sugar” substitute stevia plant in the Bicol region has bagged a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under its new Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) program.

The research, headed by Dr. Josephine Cruz, CBSUA’s head for its Knowledge Generation and Technology Development Unit Research Division,  seeks to establish an efficient and cost-effective way of farming stevia that would  be acceptable in the world market.

The organic farming of stevia would  be done  in a demonstration farm in Pili, Camarines Sur.

The CBSUA research effort bagged an $80,000 funding support from the USAID under the STRIDE program’s Collaborative Applied Research with Industry (CARWIN) Grants Program.

CBSUA is pursuing its research project in collaboration with the Bicolandia Greenfields Development Organization  which aims to supply the world market with stevia dried leaves farmed and processed in the Bicol region.

Dr. David Hall, USAID STRIDE chief of party, said that the CBSUA-BGDO collaboration was a premier example of research efforts by Philippine universities and  industry that the USAID seeks to promote.

Under STRIDE’s CARWIN and another grant program, the Philippine-US Research and Exchange (PURE) Grants,  hopes to forge strong links with Philippine academe and industry in the pursuit of R&D output that are needed by Philippine industry.

With the STRIDE program, Hall said, USAID intends to transform the R&D activity of Philippine universities so that they become true contributors to inclusive economic growth in the Philippines.

USAID also awarded research study grants to two other groups of researchers from three other Philippine universities, namely the University of the Philippines-Diliman; and the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and Central Luzon State University (CLSU); for research projects on the “value-added” processing of rubber products, and the multi-feedstock bio-ethanol processing mill.

The research grants were recently awarded in ceremonies held at the Isabela Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.