Enabling Institutions for Agricultural and Rural Development
in a Globalizing Southeast Asia
SEARCA’s NINTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1 July 2009 – 30 June 2014)
The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) was established by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) in 1966 primarily "to provide to the participating countries high quality graduate study in agriculture; promote, undertake, and coordinate research programs related to the needs and problems of the Southeast Asian region; and disseminate the findings of agricultural research and experimentation."
As we approach the second decade of the 21st century, Southeast Asia faces multiple challenges of rural poverty and food insecurity, rising energy and food prices, growth of agro-fuels production, biosafety and biotechnology, and the emergence of new value chains and the increasing integration of traditional ones amidst globalization and global policy shifts on one hand, and dwindling natural resources, biodiversity management, and changing climate on the other.
Against this backdrop, SEARCA, through this Ninth Five-Year Plan, will focus its programs on the following vision and mission:
Leading Enabler in the Science and Practice of Agriculture and Rural Development in Southeast Asia
SEARCA envisions to meet contemporary development challenges and provide leadership in enabling an environment for sustainable agricultural and rural development (ARD) in Southeast Asia.
It helps equip key actors and organizations in ARD to address contemporary issues and challenges that would ultimately redound to a robust yet sustainable agricultural economy, made manifest in the improved livelihoods and well being of agricultural and rural communities living in harmony with their ecosystems.
We are committed to building the capacities of Southeast Asian institutions working toward agricultural and rural development through graduate scholarship, research and development, and knowledge management.
SEARCA builds human, social, and institutional capital in Southeast Asia by providing opportunities for high-quality graduate education, research, scholarship, training, knowledge exchange, and project development and management in agriculture and rural development.
Decision-making, education, research, and action in agriculture and rural development require strong institutions and science-based knowledge and wisdom as their foundation. Within SEAMEO’s overall mission of regional cooperation, SEARCA strives to build leaders and institutions in the region for rational and proactive decision-making and programs that address its contemporary challenges in ARD.
SEARCA focuses on influencing leaders and centers of excellence in Southeast Asia to generate a positive impact on agricultural and rural development (ARD) in the region. These key actors and organizations can multiply any value added by their participation in the Center’s programs and activities through their decisions as well as the policies and programs in academe and development that they promote and carry out in their respective countries.
- Natural Resource Management
Natural resource management (NRM) combines economics, policy and governance, and science to study, manage and restore natural resources and ecosystems. Agriculture is naturally anchored on natural resources. A degraded or poorly managed natural resource base will constrain agricultural productivity. As NRM covers a wide range of topics, the Center focuses the scope of its NRM work on: 1) management of land and water resources; 2) biodiversity management for food security; and 3) risk assessment and the impacts of climate change on agrobiodiversity.
- Agricultural Competitiveness
In the context of SEARCA’s development mandate, agricultural competitiveness is defined as the sustained ability of a country’s agriculture sector to participate and compete in a given domestic or foreign market. At the sector level, agricultural competitiveness is affected by factors that are endogenous and exogenous to the industry—production technology, infrastructure development, domestic and international markets and marketing environment, and R&D and policy environment, among others. The competitiveness of a nation's specific sector in international markets is clearly related to the relative quality of its products and the quantity of resources available to that sector in the country.
SEARCA strives to address agricultural competitiveness mindful of food security and rural poverty alleviation as overriding goals above revenue generation by big businesses. Along this line, the concept of agricultural competitiveness is intrinsically linked to natural resource endowment and management, and hence to rural people, their livelihoods, and rural growth.
- Graduate Scholarship
SEARCA’s main mandate is to assist in producing high quality human resources in agriculture for the SEAMEO region to strengthen their institutions that would propel regional development.
Highly competent agriculture professionals are very important determinants to achieving success in agricultural development. Through its graduate scholarship program, SEARCA has been able to produce so far more than 1,000 such professionals.
SEARCA’s Graduate Scholarship Program will continue to develop a strong cadre of agriculture professionals in the region through more MS and PhD scholarships and grants.
- Research and Development
Agriculture and rural development, which have grown more dynamic and have evolved in unpredictable ways over the years, continue to be basic instruments for poverty reduction and food security, particularly in Southeast Asia. It is therefore imperative that investments in knowledge generation through innovative scientific research remain at par with these changes and lead to improvement in the well-being of rural societies.
SEARCA will spearhead research initiatives toward articulating policy directions that would lead to a highly viable agriculture sector while addressing pressing and emergent environmental concerns. Rather than focusing solely on technical aspects of various agriculture issues, SEARCA’s research will look at policy and institutional concerns that can serve to offer a holistic perspective of the subject matter.
SEARCA research and related initiatives will focus on issues of regional importance and scope. As such, these will be multi-country in nature and will have space for various perspectives and contexts of its member countries.
- Knowledge Management
Excellence in leadership and governance in ARD requires fostering and supporting a learning culture in the region that applies science and research-based analyses, which in turn makes the creation of new knowledge and wisdom possible.
SEARCA’s Knowledge Management Program will promote a learning culture, knowledge use, and knowledge creation among decision-makers, leaders, scholars, researchers, and key actors in agriculture and rural development through learning forums, training, seminars, virtual knowledge centers, a semi-annual journal, and other publications and electronic materials to be made available online.
SEARCA will actively work for synergy among these three mission areas by developing highly relevant flagship and special programs that further enhance its impact on creating an enabling environment for sustained rural poverty reduction and food security in Southeast Asia.
Building on its accomplishments in the last five years toward organizational credibility and viability, SEARCA will adopt a management strategy that features regionalized operations; stronger strategic partnerships, alliances, networks, and linkages; long-term financial viability; and operational efficiency and productivity.
"SEARCA, in the next five years, will strive to build leaders and
institutions in the region for rational and proactive decision-making and
programs that address contemporary challenges in agricultural
and rural development."
View the full-text of SEARCA’s Ninth Five-Year Plan 
