and the regional experiment stations and between the region and the provisional stations. Each station exists independently of each other in terms of programs even within the DA proper. Thus, national centers do not exactly orchestrate the national research and development programs of their assigned commodities. (E) No Clear Link with the Private Sector. Furthermore, Ponce (1998) also cites the weak link between the private sector and the larger community of research stations. Most private research centers exist principally to meet the needs of the companies that established them. As such, they do not interact with the rest of the research community dominated essentially by the government sector, except for a few privately operated research centers that perform public services such as the Twin Rivers Research Center. There is also a mechanism whereby this link could be fostered and developed. (F) Other Institutional Gaps. Other institutional weaknesses cited by Ponce (1998) are (i) the lack of well-defined and institutionalized mechanism for collaboration among R&D subsystems and (ii) the inefficient funding system and lack of accountability. The present funding system is still very much like the old project-approach one where the research outputs are essentially in the forms of research reports. This weakens the system of program approach and leads to distortion of national priorities. Furthermore, the present funding approach gives rise to a much-diffused structure of research implementation where it becomes difficult to pinpoint responsibility. (G) Manpower Gaps. In terms of R&D manpower profile in agriculture, the authors found that the problem is not in terms of the number, but in the relatively low level of scientific qualification of the agriculture research system. This is particularly true in both the DA and DENR research agencies. The very low ratios of technical manpower resources with advanced degrees at the DA and DENR compare quite unfavorably with similar institutions of some of the Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and even Bangladesh. On the other hand, the qualities of research manpower in Sacs are not uniformly nor always significantly better. Although share of manpower in SUCs may be higher than in agencies, there is a big and worsening problem of in-breeding. Furthermore, local scientists who were trained and educated abroad are not generally attuned to recent developments or frontier international knowledge. Also, there is a big gap in the quality of faculties and researchers in UPLB and other SUCs. V.C.2. Fisheries Sector9 One of the sectors included in the R&D study is the fisheries sector. This sector is important not only because it has direct impact on national health and nutrition (fish is the source of about 75 percent of the total animal protein requirement of the country, in fact more than poultry and livestock combined) but also because its structure, particularly supply side, is directly affected by what has been happening in the environment. To a certain extent, the fisheries sector can be one output indicator of what has been happening in the environment. 9
Based on the paper of Israel (1999).
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