Preamble
WHEREAS, new and improved crop varieties are crucial to modern and progressive agriculture; WHEREAS, they trigger quantum leaps in agricultural productivity as demonstrated by the much-vaunted green revolution in the paddy fields of Asia with the advent of the short, stiff-strawed high-yielding rice varieties (HYV's) developed at IRRI and UP at Los Baños; WHEREAS, the increasing tempo of agricultural development and the quest for product diversification are exacting rigorous demands on the ability of Filipino agricultural scientists to develop the crop varieties required to sustain our rapidly modernizing agriculture; WHEREAS, increasingly, we have to meet and anticipate adverse climatic conditions and the outbreak of new destructive pests and diseases; WHEREAS, with many of our traditional crops we have yet to see the dramatic increases in productivity made possible through breakthroughs in improving plant genotypes; WHEREAS, we have many tropical fruits and vegetables and other crops which have potential for expanded production and export provided the qualities for processing, handling and storage so important in international commerce and bred into them; WHEREAS, the present deployment of highly technical manpower resources and organization is inadequate to cope with the rising standards of modern agriculture; WHEREAS, the foregoing considerations require the services of highly competent, full-time teams of agricultural scientists, apply supported with resources and funds and staff and provided working conditions conducive to the development of improved varieties in the shortest time possible; NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order the following: