SEARCA in the News

The Los Baños-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) have formalized their partnership in establishing gardens under the DA-BPI Urban Agriculture Program in an agreement signed on 22 June 2020 at the DA Main Office in Quezon City. Signatories to the memorandum of agreement are Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar and SEARCA Director Glenn B. Gregorio. The DA-BPI is leading the implementation of the Urban Agriculture Program “as one of the modalities that renders safe food available, accessible, and affordable while providing additional income to… Read more

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna, June 22 (PIA) --The Integrated Urban Agriculture Act (HB 3412) has been approved by the House Committee on Agriculture last June 17. HB 3412 seeks to promote an integrated urban agriculture to address food security problems affecting the country, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill’s author, Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, said HB 3412 intends to address the serious food security problem by introducing “game-changing solutions” that include “maximizing available spaces and utilizing emerging agricultural technologies and methods.” “Local government units (LGUs) are in a strategic position to perform a catalytic role in… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna: A report on organic and inorganic farming, which have been on the opposite ends of a polarizing issue in agriculture, has been published by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). Searca Director Glenn Gregorio said the report bared the science and practice of organic and conventional agriculture and ways the two farming approaches might be integrated to achieve food security. He said these were discussed by scientists and practitioners during a forum convened by the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines Inc. (Camp), in partnership with Searca, the Philippine Council… Read more

Los Baños, Laguna—A published report by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture dealt on organic and inorganic farming which have been on the opposite ends of a polarizing issue in agriculture. Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, Searca director, said the report bares the science and practice of organic and conventional agriculture and ways the two farming approaches might be integrated to achieve food security. These were discussed by scientists and practitioners during a forum convened by the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines, Inc. in partnership with Searca, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic… Read more

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is pushing for ‘no cluster, no assistance’ policy in the agriculture sector to force farmers to consolidate into cooperatives and associations, which will make it easier for the government to distribute farm assistance. In a statement, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the agency will “enhance what we have started under our National Corn Program (NCP)”, which recommended “no cluster, no assistance” policy in terms of production, post-harvest, processing, and marketing assistance. “We will offer clustered and consolidated farms with incentives on top of the regular technical and marketing assistance under our major commodity programs. Incentives… Read more

SOME Mindanao farmers have raised their income by 47 percent after having been aided by an agricultural clustering project of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), a think tank said. This was reported by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) in a study authored by Glenn Gregorio and six researchers. He said the Mindanao model has proved to be a success model of the “more profitable” agricultural clustering, which focused on organizing farmers to become somehow “big.” “Small is beautiful. But big is powerful,” said Gregorio. After getting organized, Mindanao farmers… Read more

The entire Southeast Asia is poised to lose as much as 1.4 percent or $3.76 billion of its gross domestic product (GDP) as COVID-19 pandemic cuts the region’s agriculture production. This is according to the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), who said COVID-19 is foreseen to substantially reduce by a significant 3.11 percent the volume of agriculture output in Southeast Asia just in the first three months of the year. The decline translates to as much as 17.03 million metric tons (MT) of output as a result of a decrease in farm labor… Read more

Agriculture experts said that it’s still possible for the Philippines to achieve food security and that would be through urban agriculture, a form of farming that would encourage the households to plant their own staple food. This would be the new normal amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a digital brainstorming webinar conducted by Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). Called SOLVE (SEARCA Online Learning and Virtual Engagement), the webinar tackled food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “SOLVE IS SEARCA’s own way of channeling proven and tested solutions to a number of problems in… Read more

Smallholder farms and agriculture-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stand to become more competitive and to connect with national and international markets when they form agricultural clusters, according to a regional think tank. According to the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), more than 80% of food produced and consumed in the developing world come from smallholder farms dominating Southeast Asia. SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio explained that at less than five hectares each, these smallholder farms are constrained by their remote and dispersed locations making access to modern technology, services, and information… Read more

All public and private schools in 11 Southeast Asian countries are invited to submit entries for the 2020 Seameo-Japan Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Award with the theme “Addressing Plastic Problems for Transforming Communities.” The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (Seameo) and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology established the award, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. It is in support to the “United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.” Now in its ninth year… Read more