SEARCA News

LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA, Philippines – The Philippine component of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-funded project "Rural Regional Transformation: Pathways, Policy Sequencing and Development Outcomes in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam (RRT)" successfully held a workshop-meeting on 31 August to 1 September 2018 at the SEARCA Residence Hotel to set up the RRT database, which is pivotal in the model development of rural transformation in the Philippines. … Read more

The Joint Master Degree – Food Security and Climate Change (MS FSCC) project team held its meeting with the project partners from SEARCA and SupAgro at KU on 14-15 August 2018. KU and SEARCA, as the co-coordinators of the project, presented updates regarding the students enrolled in the course. Important issues, which needed clarifications from the project team were also tabled. The two-day event also discussed the result of the assessment of the technical implementation report from the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and how its comments and recommendations would be addressed. Furthermore, additional information and clarifications with… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA, Philippines — On its 12th year, the awaited annual regional SEARCA Photo Contest has officially opened for submissions from photo enthusiasts across Southeast Asia, starting on 7 September 2018. For 2018, SEARCA looks at its contributing role in the light of its efforts to bring to fore, and unify into a regional cooperation, many efforts that respond to the inevitable growing concern on climate uncertainties and water scarcity in the Southeast Asian region. SEARCA's 12th Photo Contest theme "Managing Climate Uncertainties and Scarce Water Resources," aims to put a spotlight into an already familiar challenge in agriculture… Read more

BANGKOK, Thailand – The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) through the Graduate Education and Institutional Development Department (GEIDD) conducted an orientation-meeting last 16 August 2018 at the International Studies Center (ISC), Kasetsart University (KU) for the new and ongoing SEARCA scholars who are currently studying at KU. The orientation-meeting provided the scholars with essential information to help them with their mobility and stay at KU easy and smooth, and to guide them with the process and administration policies throughout the duration of their study program. … Read more

MANILA, Philippines – The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) joins the 4th High Officials Meeting (HOM) on Southeast Asia-Technical and Vocational Education and Training (SEA-TVET) on 4-5 September 2018 at the Philippine International Convention Center to present the progress of its project "Towards the Development of Competency Standards of Agricultural Workers in the ASEAN Region." … Read more

VICTORIA, ORIENTAL MINDORO, Philippines. The Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI), in partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños – Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center (UPLB-PHTRC) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), established experimental sites and conducted field trials to validate the effects of off-season production technologies suitable to the growing conditions of calamansi in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro on 24-26 August 2018. This research undertaking is integrally a part of the project proposal on upgrading the commodity's value-chain under the National Technology Commercialization Program (NTCP) of the Department of… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines – Mr. Christian Strowa, Head of the Asia Pacific Section, and Ms. Heike Schӓdlich, Team Leader for South and Southeast Asia, both from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) office in Bonn, visited SEARCA on 24 August 2018, to discuss the regulations and monitoring procedures of the new DAAD In-Region/In-Country Scholarship Programme. Twenty-one Southeast Asian nationals were awarded scholarships under this new scheme through SEARCA to pursue their graduate studies starting academic year 2018-2019. … Read more

MONTPELLIER, France – SEARCA has supported the participation of Dr. Rico Ancog in the France Excellence Summer on OneHealth Approach to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance held in the headquarters of the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) in Montpellier, France, last July 2018. Dr. Ancog is an assistant professor at the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and UPLB’s focal person for CIRAD’s GREASE Research Network for emerging risks in Southeast Asia. … Read more

Fourteen participants from Myanmar, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines participated in the Short Course on Planetary Health Approach in Addressing Food Safety Considerations and Environmental Challenges held at the SEARCA Headquarters from 13-17 August 2018. … Read more

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The success of the School-plus-home Gardens Project, a collaborative action research project among SEARCA, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and the Department of Education (DepEd)-Division of Laguna, had the opportunity to be shared to participants during the 2018 Asia-Pacific Societies for Agricultural and Food Ethics (APSafe) Conference in collaboration with the European Societies for Agricultural and Food Ethics (EurSafe) held at the National Taiwan University, Taipei from 10 to 12 May 2018. The paper, Linking School Gardening and Feeding: Experience from the School-Plus-Home Gardens Project (S+HGP) in the Philippines, was presented by Dr. Blesilda… Read more