The members of the Carrageenan Plant Growth Promoter (PGP) team of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute were among the regional winners in the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award as part of the Civil Service Commission 2020 Search for Outstanding Government Workers, the PNRI announced on its Facebook account.
The team includes PNRI Career Scientists Dr. Lucille Abad and Fernando Aurigue, and PNRI researchers Patrick Jay Cabalar and Francis Cyril Valdez.
Also in the team was Dr. Gil Magsino, the director of the National Crop Protection Center of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños.
The team is also among the semi-finalists for the national level of the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award.
The radiation-processed Carrageenan PGP has been proven to increase rice yields by an average of 20 percent compared to that from average farmer practices.
It is also making the crops more resistant to blight and infestation caused by tungro virus, ultimately helping to increase the harvests in farmlands across the country.
