MANILA - Senator Cynthia Villar on Wednesday clarified that she was “not against research” after drawing flak over the weekend for criticizing the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) budget on corn study.

Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, earlier slammed the DA for earmarking P150 million for the National Corn Program’s research.

• 'Puro research': Villar hits agriculture budget on corn program

“I am not against research [pero] hindi naman puwedeng puro research, walang application of the research,” Villar said in a press conference in Quezon City.

“I want a research that could be applied,” she said.

The National Dairy Authority and the Philippine Carabao Center have been conducting research for 26 years, but dairy production in the country remains at 1 percent of demand, Villar said.

The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) discovered an inbred seed that could increase harvest by 50 percent, but had to wait for additional funding before distributing the technology to farmers, she said.

“Ang hinihiling ko lang sa kanila (DA) ay one-half [of the budget sa] research, one-half application para makita kung 'yung ni-research nila will have a good application sa agriculture sa Pilipinas,” the senator said.

“Kung hindi naman natin maaapply ang research, wala ring use 'yun,” she said.