Pangasinan’s pride in Agricultural Research

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

DR. EDGAR A. Orden is another son of Pangasinan who has brought honors and distinction in agricultural research to his province. The eldest in a brood of four, he was born and raised for a while in San Manuel before his mother, a nurse, moved to the then Central Luzon Agricultural College where her husband was teaching.

Aside from being a professor at the Central Luzon State University [CLSU] in the Science City of  Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, where he finished the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, he is better known as an expert on small ruminants [goats and sheep] and broiler production.

He graduated with Master of Science in animal science at UP Los Baños in 1989 and a Doctor of Philosophy in bioproduction science at the Tottori University in Tottori-shi, Tottori-ken, Japan in year 2000. In both degree programs, he majored in animal nutrition.

Dr. Orden has received at least five major awards at the national level as a result of his researches.  For instance, his paper on the performance of goats as influenced by CASREN [Crop-Animal System Research Network] intervention in lowland rain fed areas of Pangasinan was selected as the third best paper in the development category during a national symposium at the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development in November 2004.

The same paper earlier won the best paper award [development category] during a regional symposium at the Philippine Rice Research Institute in August 2004. Dr. Orden also received the 2004 AFMA R&D best paper award from the Bureau of Agricultural Research [BAR] in October 2004.

His paper on the effects of soluble glass mineral bolus on the plasma mineral concentration of grazing goats under backyard conditions in selected areas in Nueva Ecija, which was published earlier in a scientific journal, won the 2003 DA Secretary’s best paper award during the BAR symposium in November 2003.

In the same month, his paper on the comparative performance of crossbreed cattle and grade Murrah buffalo also won for him the best paper award [production and waste management category] during the annual convention of the Philippine Society of Animal Science.

Dr. Orden’s paper on the effects of ipil-ipil and kakawate on the intake, outflow rate, mineral protein yield and growth performance of   native sheep fed with ammoniated rice straw likewise won for him the 2002 BAR  Director’s best paper award [published category] in November 2002.

As an expert in broiler production, Dr. Orden is the only income generating project manager of CLSU who has generated an annual income of more than P1 million in 2005-2006.  The university’s broiler project, which he set up before he pursued the PhD program, was a losing proposition until three years ago.

He took over the project three years ago and since then has been earning considerable income for the university.  He found out that honesty and commitment of a project manager determines the income generated by the project. This is especially true in broiler production, which is contracted with Magnolia.

As an advocate of goat production, he has encouraged small growers to use upgraded bucks [male goats] for breeding native goats.

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