To strengthen and promote competency certification systems for farmers and agricultural workers in Southeast Asia, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has recently joined forces with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), formulating recommendations for the recognition of skills of agri-workers in the region.
TESDA director general Secretary Guiling Mamondiong said TESDA and SEARCA cohosted the "Regional Workshop on Competency Certification for Agricultural Workers in Southeast Asia" at the SEARCA Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna last week.
"The workshop aims to initiate the recognition of competency certifications for agricultural workers by the organizations/agencies that issue such certifications. It also aims to develop recommendations pertaining to the promotion of skills recognition of agricultural workers," said Mamondiong.
The workshop's outcome according to Mamondiong will be presented during the "4th High Officials Meeting on Southeast Asia Technical and Vocational Education and Training (SEA-TVET)", which the government agency will host on September 4-5, 2018.
Among those invited to the workshop were 11 members of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) composed of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.
Resource speakers and panelists from the International Labor Organization (ILO), ASEAN Qualifications Referencing Framework (AQRF) committee, SEAMEO VOCTECH, farmers' organization and competent bodies' from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia also came to the event.
According to the TESDA chief, agriculture is the backbone of the Southeast Asian economies on which 450-million people rely for income. "In more than half of the ASEAN Member States (AMS), agriculture has been declared a development priority as it plays a vital role in ensuring food and nutrition security as well as in alleviating poverty," he added.
"The development of competencies among agricultural workers will lead to increased agricultural productivity, as this will drive the adoption of new measures in farming and technology, and may also contribute to better management of labor mobility in Southeast Asia," Mamondiong further said.