SEARCA in the News

IN the academic world, the late Gelia Castillo is considered the "queen" of rural sociology. Her extensive work on analyzing the dynamics of rural society made a lasting impact on our knowledge of rural folk. In agricultural economics, the uncontested guru in the country is Cristina David. Her insightful analyses of how the process of agricultural development is triggered and promoted have enriched our knowledge of the Philippine agricultural economy. I am lucky, proud and privileged, together with my wife, Lourdes, to have been mentored by these two great women of UP Los Baños early in our careers. But we… Read more

UPDATE: The AJAD 20th Anniversary Seminar Series has been postponed indefinitely The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) is celebrating the 20th year of the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) with a seminar series by authors of its anniversary issue. Published by SEARCA twice a year, AJAD is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research articles, review articles, and policy briefs on a wide range of topics related to agriculture and rural development in Southeast Asia. Themed "Asian Agriculture and Development in a Dynamic and Volatile Landscape of Demands, Peoples, and Risks,"… Read more

NINETEEN Reedley International School science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and two faculty members visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in Laguna province for an "immersive journey into the future of agriculture" Oct. 15, 2024. The Reedley STEM students participated in a session of the learning activity "Sowing Seeds: Cultivating Youth's Future in Agriculture." The activity was organized by SEARCA's Partnerships Unit as part of the center's banner youth engagement initiative called the Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation or #Y4AGRI. During the activity, Glenn Baticados, an agribusiness expert, agripreneur and assistant… Read more

REPRESENTATIVES from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Central Luzon State University (CLSU), and Visayas State University (VSU) from the Philippines and seven other universities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region attended the Workshop on Quality Assurance Guidelines for Micro-credentials in Bali, Indonesia on Oct. 28 and 29, 2024. Organized by Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia) and Maejo University (Thailand), the event marked a significant step in advancing educational innovation in the region through the ERASMUS+-funded program on Postgraduate Micro-credentials in Food Security and Climate Change (PMC FSCC). The other participant ASEAN universities include the Institut… Read more

GRADE school and high school students from Colegio de San Juan de Letran Calamba in Laguna showcased their agri-inventions at the "Sowing Seeds: Cultivating Youth's Future in Agriculture" session on agri-robotics on Oct. 21, 2024. As part of its Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation or #Y4AGRI program, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) organized the session through its Partnerships Unit. Participants in the session were 96 grade school and high school students from Letran Calamba, University of the Philippines Rural High School, Colegio De Los Baños and Christian School International. This session on… Read more

SLEMAN - Pertanian berkelanjutan jadi salah satu tujuan besar yang diupayakan Institut Pertanian Stiper (Instiper) Jogjakarta. Oleh karena itu, Instiper memperluas kemitraan dalam skala internasional lewat Sustainability of Agricultural Landscapes in Southeast Asia (SALSA). Peneliti senior Instiper Dr Agus Setyarso mengungkapkan, proyek kolektif yang ambisius ini bertujuan memberi pemahaman yang lebih baik. Tentang mosaik lanskap di negara-negara kepulauan di Asia Tenggara. "Kerja sama dalam hal ini meliputi Malaysia, Indonesia, dan Filipina. Sebuah wilayah yang masih punya kekayaan keanekaragaman hayati," katanya Minggu (3/11/2024). Selain kekayaan hayati, Agus berujar, salah satu bagian penting dari lanskap tersebut adalah SDM. Manusia jadi bagian integral… Read more

Grade school and high school student-inventors from Colegio de San Juan de Letran Calamba showcased their agri-inventions at the "Sowing Seeds: Cultivating Youth's Future in Agriculture" session on agri-robotics. The event was organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) through its Partnerships Unit (PU) as part of the Center's recent Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation program. In his opening message, SEARCA Director Glenn Gregorio explained that agriculture is a complex system that includes not only production but also harvesting, postharvest processing, and, ultimately, consumption. Gregorio also underscored the transformative role of innovation… Read more

SEVENTEEN new Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) scholars attended in person and online a hybrid orientation meeting for Academic Year 2024-2025 on Oct. 21, 2024. The new scholars pursuing master's and doctoral degrees were six from the Philippines, six from Indonesia, two from Cambodia, one from Malaysia, one from Myanmar and one from Liberia. The orientation meeting was organized by the SEARCA Center through its Graduate Scholarship and Institutional Development Unit under the Education and Collective Learning Department (ECLD-GSIDU). The orientation featured a briefing on SEARCA and its programs and activities followed by… Read more

OFFICIALS from the Department of Education (DepEd) Los Baños, Laguna Sub-office, and Life Learning Organization of Peace (LLOP) visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) for an exploratory meeting regarding community engagement initiatives on Oct. 11. DepEd Los Baños, Laguna Sub-office Public School District Supervisor Soledad Villanueva and LLOP CEO Pilar Habito with Arturo Cariaga discussed school garden and youth entrepreneurship initiatives with SEARCA. Villanueva thanked SEARCA Center for its longstanding partnership with DepEd through the School-plus-Home Gardens Project (S+HGP). "We are excited about expanding the S+HGP and further strengthening DEpEd's Gulayan sa… Read more

THE Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) outlined measures for Southeast Asia's agribusiness future during the second SEAMEO International Conference on Food and Nutrition (ICFN) 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Oct. 17-18. With the theme "Understanding the Challenges, Gains, and Opportunities in Environmental Nutrition Research, Programs, and Policies in Southeast Asia," ICFN 2024 covered discussions on food systems, indigenous food and nutrition, sustainable diets, environmental food factors, and food security. The conference organized by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (RECFON) aimed to "enhance understanding of… Read more