SEARCA News

Committed to pursue gender balance and inclusion of the younger generations among agricultural families and communities, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) conducted the SEARCA Online Learning and Virtual Engagement (SOLVE) webinar on "Youth Disengagement in Agriculture: Addressing Challenges, Creating Opportunities" on 5 August 2020 via Zoom and Facebook. SOLVE webinars aim to provide an avenue for knowledge sharing on concrete innovative actions on the ground along SEARCA's 11th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025) via technology-mediated social platforms that would directly benefit farmers and farming families and engage the youth in ARD. Launched on 28… Read more

The Philippine component of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-funded project titled, Rural Regional Transformation: Pathways, Policy Sequencing, and Development Outcomes in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam (RRT), will hold a series of online stakeholders' validation meetings via Zoom video conferencing platform. These meetings are intended to discuss and solicit insights from various experts that are essential to validate the typology of rural regional transformation in the Philippines, as well as the initial findings of the RRT project's research studies. These online stakeholders' validation meetings aim to provide opportunities for the RRT Project Team and the participants to: (1)… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – The NTU-SEARCA Joint Scholarship Program for Global Agriculture Technology and Genomic Science (Global ATGS) is now accepting applications until 20 November 2020 for AY 2021-2022. The joint scholarship between National Taiwan University (NTU) and SEARCA provides support for graduate studies under the Master Program in Global ATGS offered by the International College of NTU. The program aims to provide deeper understanding on smart farming technology, genome science research, and breeding science and technology. It combines an interdisciplinary curriculum with opportunities for internship and field visits to develop global bio-agricultural talents who are responsive to the needs… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) recently participated in the first Multi-Actor Global Exchange Meeting (GEM), co-organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for the development of a Modular Training Program on Public Policy Cycles for Family Farming (MTP). The MTP is the first global product that IFAD and FAO are currently developing in the framework of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 (UNDFF). The MTP is intended to be a capacity development tool that will assist in… Read more

The project titled “Piloting and Upscaling Effective Models of Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development” (ISARD) is set to scale its gains through the application of the project’s implementation model in the province of Quezon. The SEARCA team led by Dr. Pedcris M. Orencio, Program Head for the Research and Thought Leadership Department (RTLD), Dr. Jose R. Medina, former ISARD Overall Program Coordinator, Dr. Rex L. Navarro, Coordinator cum Facilitator, Ms. Carmen Nyhria G. Rogel, Program Specialist, and Ms. Ruth Jazrel M. Bandong, both from RTLD had a virtual meeting with the representatives from the Provincial Local Government Unit… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) organized a virtual meeting with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) on 22 July 2020 to discuss areas for collaboration that will engage the youth in agriculture and rural development (ARD). The meeting took off from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations signed on 01 July 2020 which was facilitated by the SEARCA Partnerships Unit and YPARD Philippines. YPARD is an international movement by young professionals with a vision for a food-secure world without poverty where young people are enabled to fully contribute… Read more

While the world reels from the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the search for sustainable mechanisms to address food insecurity concerns doable at the community level becomes more urgent. Agricultural losses in terms of decrease in farm labor and agricultural production are projected to further impoverish 14.69 million families in Southeast Asia, based on a recent study. Left unmitigated, such repercussions could compromise the health status of vulnerable sectors, especially children and the rural poor. A collaborative endeavor among the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), University of the Philippines Los… Read more

SEARCA, in partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and Kansas State University (KU), will hold the second session of the E-Training on School and Home Gardens cum Biodiversity Enhancement (SHGBE) for Busuanga Island, Palawan that will be held via Zoom video conferencing platform on 23 July 2020. The SHGBE online training successfully kicked off on16 July 2020 with more than 200 online learners composed of school officials and teachers, school program coordinators, parent representatives from selected elementary and high schools in Coron and Busuanga, Palawan; representatives of the local governments ofthese municipalities; and the private sector… Read more

In a virtual signing ceremony, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI) institutionalized their mutual desire to partner on areas of common interest such as education, training, and research. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 20 July 2020 by SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio and PSFI Executive Director Sebastian C. Quinones, Jr. and witnessed by officers and staff from both institutions. Dr. Gregorio stressed that SEARCA gives high priority to fostering a stronger academe-industry-government interconnectivity as part of its 11th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025) and that… Read more

Schools are recognized as excellent setting for promoting lifelong healthy eating and improving long-term, sustainable nutrition security. They play a vital role in the effort to overcome malnutrition and hunger among children, and school gardens are simple yet effective ways of improving nutrition and education of children and their families. It is in this context that the "Participatory Action Research on School and Community-Based Food and Nutrition Program for Literacy, Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development," also known as the School plus Home Gardens Project (S+HGP), was implemented in six schools in Laguna, Philippines in 2016 to 2017. It aimed to… Read more