Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap says the country has gone a step ahead in the prolonged process of making fresh Philippine bananas enter the restrictive US market.

The US Department of Agriculture (DA) issued last month its risk assessment report on Philippine fresh bananas and said these bananas may enter the US mainland market if mitigating measures are implemented to address 14 quarantine pests it had discovered.

"The USDA move brings us one step closer to our goal of providing our local banana growers the opportunity to penetrate the lucrative US mainland market," Yap said.

An initial review of the USDA report done by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed some of the identified pests may not be present in the Philippines or do not attack hard green banana. Thus, the fruit should not be included in the list of prohibited imports.

USDA will develop risk management measures in consultation with BPI.

BPI Director Joel Rudinas recalled that the Philippines requested the US to allow fresh bananas to enter the mainland US in December 2005, and to enter Hawaii , Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands in September 2007.

The Philippines exports fresh bananas to Japan, Korea, the Middle East, New Zealand and China.

Yap, who visited the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) facility in Washington, said the government is exploring the application of available agricultural technologies developed by the USDA.

"The Philippines and the US can collaborate in the field of agricultural science and technology as a promising way to hasten the development of practical agricultural technologies to help improve productivity in Philippine farms," Yap said.

Yap added that he envisions "agricultural productivity improvements in the Philippines to be anchored on agricultural science and technology."

One area of interests for the Philippines and the US is biofuels research.

ARS and the DA-attached Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADCC) have agreed to collaborate on the development of three biofuels feedstock--sugar, sweet sorghum and cellulosic materials--during his visit to the US institution.

Lyndel Meinhardt, USDA research leader for sustainable perennial crops in Beltsville, discussed
with Yap the biocontrol of diseases in cacao, a crop being eyed for intercropping with coconut in the Philippines .

During his visit, Yap also discussed with Dr. Dennis Timlin, the soil scientist at the USDA-ARS crop systems global change laboratory, the various crop simulation models that can be applied in the Philippines.

Dr. Robert Griesback, the technology transfer coordinator of USDA-ARS in Beltsville, briefed Yap during his visit on the ways to transform waste into biofuels using shipping containers.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack informed Yap during his visit to the department that a big USDA-led delegation is due to arrive in Manila in October, the first-ever USDA-led agribusiness mission to be held in Southeast Asia .

He expressed interest over the proposal on possible investments in the biofuels sector "using the Philippines as a staging ground for exports to the region for food and bio-technology."

Yap also proposed during the meeting two projects for possible funding from the recently launched G-8 $20 billion food production fund, in response to Vilsack's pronouncement that the US is now applying a new framework in addressing global food security, which is through improving farm productivity rather than traditional emergency assistance.

He proposed to Vilsack for possible G-8 funding a $120-million joint program to be implemented by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on developing and distributing climate-ready seeds.