SEARCAns participate in the 2nd Green Skills for SEARCA Youth, a plant-growing contest among SEARCA young staff.
The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), through its Partnerships Unit (PU), conducted the second activity under its Green Skills for SEARCA Youth program from 23 October to 6 November 2023 in line with the celebration of this year's International Youth Day (IYD).
The program kicked off with the community relations and agripreneurship immersion activity conducted by PU with Dagatan Family Farm School, Inc. (DFFS) on 31 August 2023 in Lipa City, Batangas, and relaunched the SEARCA Youth Ambassadors Platform (SAYAP), the Center's internal youth empowerment platform for young SEARCA staff. Continuing the efforts to immerse SAYAP in agriculture through hands-on experiences, the second activity was a two-week plant-growing competition.
On 23 October, Dr. Glenn Gregorio, Center Director, guided four pairs of SEARCA youth staff members in planting string bean (Galante) seeds and gave them tips on basic gardening and farming practices they may consider in the competition.
The young SEARCANs show off their seedlings.
The duo from the Emerging Innovation for Growth Department (EIGD), Mr. Kim Louisse Patagan and Ms. Ivy Rosemarie Ortiguero, both project associates, win the contest.
Two weeks after the seeds were sowed, Dr. Gregorio visited the SEARCA Sky Garden to check on the plants and choose the winning string bean. The duo from the Emerging Innovation for Growth Department (EIGD), Mr. Kim Louisse Patagan and Ms. Ivy Rosemarie Ortiguero, both project associates, won the contest. Other participating SAYAP were from the Office of the Director (OD), Office of the Deputy Director for Programs (ODDP), Applied Knowledge Resources Unit (AKRU), and SEARCA administrative units, specifically the Accounting Unit (AcU) and Human Resources Management Unit (HRMU).
The winning pair will be sponsored by PU and joined by Loise Ann Carandang, senior associate for communications, PU, in participating in the mobile workshop sessions on 14–15 November 2023 of the Second International Conference on School-plus-Home Gardens cum Biodiversity Enhancement and Enterprise (SHGBEE2) led by SEARCA's Research and Thought Leadership Department (RTLD). The workshops will be held at the Central Philippines State University (CPSU) campus and facilities in Kabankalan City and in Danjugan Island, Cauayan, Negros Occidental. SHGBEE2's theme, "Nurturing Healthy, Biodiverse, and Entrepreneurial Communities," is also aligned with the 2023 IYD theme, and the youth staff members' participation in all three mobile workshops suits the culmination of the Green Skills for SEARCA Youth program.
SAYAP operates within SEARCA's banner youth engagement initiative, Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation, or #Y4AGRI. SAYAP is led by PU and is composed of SEARCA youth staff members aged between 20 and 35. Green Skills for SEARCA Youth is one of the youth engagement activities of the Center for Fiscal Year 2023/2024.
