New ISAAA Publication: Biotech sQuizBox

ISAAA's Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology released a new educational booklet called Biotech sQuizBox during the convention of the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines (BCP) at Traders Hotel, Manila on 17-18 May 2012.

Biotech sQuizBox is an accordion-type cartoon publication that aims to inform secondary school students about crop biotechnology. One side of the booklet contains snippets of basic information about the history, development, and benefits of biotech crops. The other side of the booklet challenges the readers to answer exciting quizzes to further understand the subject matter. The activities include DNA extraction exercise, scientist appreciation activity, puzzles, and word problem, which can be done individually or as a group in science classes.

The publication was illustrated by Stephanie Bravo-Semilla, a cartoonist from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and second prize winner of BiotechTOONS Contest organized by ISAAA and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture – Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA BIC) in November 2011.

The Biotech sQuixBox is available for download from ISAAA's website at  http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/biotech_squizbox/2012/download/default.asp.

For more information materials, visit the biotech information resources page at ISAAA's website here: http://www.isaaa.org/resources/default.asp.

New ISAAA Publication: Adoption and Uptake Pathways of Biotech Crops in the Philippines

A team of researchers from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) conducted a survey in 2011 to analyze how biotech corn farmers in the Philippines started to adopt the technology. The results of their study showed that peer and kinship systems facilitate the adoption and uptake pathways of biotech corn in selected provinces of Luzon.

Dr. Cleofe Torres and her team noted that the changes in the lives of farmers who adopted Bt corn include increased yield and income. They also found out that seed technicians played an important role in the adoption process as they convinced farmers to plant biotech crops. Traders, on the other hand, provided farmers with capital to buy seeds and other needed farm inputs. The farmers surveyed also said that they are anticipating the commercial release of other Bt crops such as Bt eggplant.

The results of the UPLB study are now published in a monograph entitled "Adoption and Update Pathways of Biotechnology Crops: The case of Biotech Corn Farmers in Selected Provinces of Luzon, Philippines" that ISAAA co-published with the College of Development communication, UPLB (CDC-UPLB) and the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Graduate Study and REsearch in Agriculture (SEARCA).

The monograph is available for free download from ISAAA's website at http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/adoption_and_uptake_pathways_of_bioech_crops/download/.

For more information materials, visit the biotech information resources page at ISAAA's website here: http://www.isaaa.org/resources/default.asp.

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Hello! Welcome to ISAAA’s blog, a new venue to learn more about our activities and publications, and read on news, features, events, and other important agbiotech developments around the world.

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