Left out by its very popular look-alike, the coconut, sago palm has almost taken the route of the forgotten crops. Thanks to the 1st Philippine Sago Symposium. The route sees a bright detour towards promising possibilities.

Held on the 28th of July at the ODREX Audio-Visual Room of Leyte State University in Baybay, the 1st Philippine Sago Symposium opened the gate for new discussions on sago research. Sago researchers from the state colleges and universities in the Philippines and from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) and Rikkyo University from Japan served as the participants in the symposium along with some sago farming practitioners and interested individuals.

During the Opening Ceremonies, Dr. Paciencia P. Milan (LSU President) welcomed the participants while Prof. Algerico M. Mariscal the Director of the Philippine Rootcrops Research and Training Center (PhilRootcrops) presented the rationale of the one-day symposium. Prof. Mariscal stressed that with an abundant sago palm plants in the Philippines, the symposium hopes to meet the following objectives: a) to identify research gaps and formulate the sago research and development agenda, b) to establish linkage among sago researchers in the country and abroad, and c) to exchange research results to be used to promote various sago utilization possibilities.

With the objectives at hand, the symposium proceeded with several paper presentations on sago researches. After each presentation, the table is laid open for open forum and discussion.

Later in the afternoon, Engr. Alan B. Loreto of PhilRootcrops demonstrated on the use of Sago Starch Extracting Machine. Shortly after, the sago-farming practitioners proceeded to demonstrate processing of sago starch into a delicacy locally known as suman.

The symposium is jointly organized by the LSU, TUAT, Visayas Consortium for Agriculture and Resources Program (VICARP) and PhilRootcrops.

Commencing with a Certificate of Attendance distribution, the symposium at least left the participants with an assurance that; after all, sago will never be in the journey of forgotten crops.