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By Kenneth Santos
It was as if he didn’t want to talk about the
award. In fact, the trophy he was recently honored with by the
International Society of Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences (ISSAAS)
is set aside inconspicuously in a corner, still wrapped up in its
original packaging.
But ask Dr. Teodoro Solsoloy about the latest
crop management technology, and his eyes light up, his hands become
animated, and his voice brims over with enthusiasm. “There’s
nothing like the excitement of discovery,” he declares.
“You’ll never know what an experiment will turn out until you
see it for yourself.”
Dr. Solsoloy, or “Teody” to his colleagues
and friends, is the Assistant Director of the Department of
Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research. He was recently awarded
the Dr. Priscilla C. Sanchez award for Excellence in Research by the
ISSAAS, a recognition for outstanding leadership and research in the
agriculture and scientific community. It was launched in 2005 and he
is its first recipient. While its significance is not lost on him,
Solsoloy apparently hasn’t quite grasped why he, among so many
others, was chosen to receive it. “There were so many others who
deserve it. It’s really God who promotes men,” he humbly opines.
The reality of this statement is reflected in
his modest beginnings, which involved helping his parents tend the
tobacco plants at their small farm in Batac, Ilocos Norte. His
otherwise happy childhood was cut short with the untimely death of
his mother, but with the help of relatives he was able to resume
schooling at the Southern Christian College in Midsayap, North
Cotabato.
He initially took up engineering at the
University of Southern Mindanao, but there was one problem: he
couldn’t draw. “One of my teachers was saying that I ought to be
given an 8.0 instead of a 5.0 because my work was so bad,”
Solsoloy chuckles. He shifted to B.S. Agriculture, majoring in
Entomology, where his grades improved significantly.
While working at the now-defunct Cotton Research
and Development Institute, he was poised to receive a study grant
from the A&M University in Texas, but the events of EDSA 1 in
1986 overtook the country. He ended up pursuing his post-graduate
studies at the UP Los Baños instead.
“For my Masters’ thesis, I came up with the
idea of using Trichogramma chilonis as a means of controlling the
infestation of cotton bollworm,” Solsoloy says. “It wasn’t a
strictly original idea, since biological control was already being
used for sugarcane. But I was the first to study its application to
the cotton industry, which was booming at the time.”
Trichogramma are tiny wasps, measuring a
millimeter or less, that parasitize the eggs of many agricultural
pests. The female wasps inject their own eggs into the egg of the
pest, and the larvae feed on the embryo, killing it.
Presently, Trichogramma are used to control
pests other than the cotton bollworm, such as the corn borer.
Solsoloy, however, acknowledges that there is an inherent dependence
on insecticides among many farmers. “There has to be an increased
awareness among farmers on the environmental and health hazards of
spraying,” he says.
It was for his pioneering efforts in the
research and development of Trichogramma that Solsoloy was
recognized by the ISSAAS, which, he shyly admits, is probably his
legacy to Filipino farmers. Currently, he is advocating the use of
the “Trembler” high-resonant lamp to control pests especially in
heavily-infested areas. The technology involves the use of
high-frequency sound waves to attract and destroy insects.
He admits, though, that due to his managerial
tasks at DA-BAR, he misses doing research. Besides the joy of
discovery, “it also allows me to have more time with my family,”
he says. Nothing satisfies him more than “managing” his
daughters Ma. Adrielle, Mishael Joy and Myrtle Grace. His wife, Dr.
Aida Solsoloy, like him, is a conferred scientist at the Department
of Science and Technology, with whom he shares the distinction of
being the first husband-wife conferred scientists of DOST. She is an
acclaimed plant entomologist, pioneering the development of
bio-pesticides from indigenous plants.
One other passion that fulfills Solsoloy is
sharing his faith and overseeing the growth of fellow believers at
Victory Christian Fellowship. He points to John 15:16 as his life
purpose: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” A fitting
description for someone who has worked with crops all his life.
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