Mr. Ian Marc Cabugsa, Lecturer and QA Laboratories Chair at the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU), called on Philippine Consul General Gina A. Jamoralin at the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu on 17 November 2016.

Mr. Cabugsa, who teaches General Chemistry in ADDU and an analyst for the university’s Chemistry Analytical Laboratory (CARL) is undertaking research at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on the activation of cacao rhizospheres by chelation. This research is  part of the Fellowship granted to him by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) Scholarship: the 2016 Cocoa Borlaug International Agricultural  Science and Technology Program (Cocoa Borlaug Fellowship).

He arrived in the United States in September 2016, and has since visited cacao companies such as Hershey’s, Mars and Camden International Commodities, and presented his research at the USDA headquarters and attended the World Food Prize.

According to Mr. Borlaug, his research study was particularly focused on cacao production especially since his hometown city of Davao is the primary source of cacao in the Philippines. His study included analyzing soil chemistry and water, and measuring the impacts of contaminated soils on cacao growth to increase its production and hasten its growth and to create a coastal management resource for local government use.

Consul General Jamoralin commended Mr. Cabugsa for his research and expressed hope that his study will help imcrease productivity in the cacao industry to help improve farmer’s incomes and expand production in the country for exports (END).