Bicol
University hosted the International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural
Sciences (ISSAAS)-Philippines’ 1st ISSAAS Bicol Regional Conference
last September 17, 2009 at BU College of Science Auditorium. The theme for the
conference was “Securing Food for Today and the Future”.
The conference was attended by 119 delegates from University of the Philippines
Los Baños (UPLB), Bicol University (BU), Bicol College (BC), Camarines Norte
State College (CNSC), Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC),
Catandunes State College (CSC), Partido State University (PSU), Sorsogon State
College (SSC), Department of Agriculture
(DA), Department of Education (DepEd), and Department of Environment and Natural
resources (DENR). Thirty-eight research papers were presented in five
simultaneous sessions. These papers address the following thematic areas:
Climate Change and Food Production (6 papers); Food Supply, Nutrition, and
Population (8 papers); Food Security and Biodiversity (10 papers); Food Safety
and Food Technology (9 papers); and Food Supply Chain Efficiency and
Responsiveness (5 papers). The five sessions were facilitated by the personnel
of BU which include Mr. Nestor W. Dullesco, Mr. Angelo P. Candelaria, Prof.
Corazon V. Caputan, Ms. Ida Francia H. Revale and Mr. 
Michael
Montealegre. Six posters were also presented in the conference.
Dr. Roberto F. Rañola, Jr., the Vice-President for ISSAAS-Philippines introduced the organization and the Philippine Association of Agriculturist (PAA) to the delegates. He elaborated the main objective of ISSAAS which is “to encourage the holistic approach to problems and to promote the progress and development of science and technology through research and publication, and the outcome is to be for regional agricultural development”. He also enumerated the activities of ISSAAS, Dr. Pricilla C. Sanchez Awards, membership to ISSAAS and the officers of ISSAAS-Philippines.
The first plenary speaker was
Dr. Rogelio N. Concepcion, the former Director of the Bureau of Soil and Water
Management (BSWM) and currently a consultant of the Water and Sanitation
Coordination Office of the National Anti-Poverty Commission. His plenary address
was entitled “Climate Change and Food Security”. He tackled the specific
issues on each of the six thematic areas of the conference and posted challenge
to the researchers to pursue studies on these identified issues. Dr. Pricilla C.
Sanchez 
delivered
the second plenary address entitled “Food Safety in the
The conference was followed by
the induction of the 70 new members of ISSAAS-
