SEARCA News

While the world reels from the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the search for sustainable mechanisms to address food insecurity concerns doable at the community level becomes more urgent. Agricultural losses in terms of decrease in farm labor and agricultural production are projected to further impoverish 14.69 million families in Southeast Asia, based on a recent study. Left unmitigated, such repercussions could compromise the health status of vulnerable sectors, especially children and the rural poor. A collaborative endeavor among the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), University of the Philippines Los… Read more

SEARCA, in partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and Kansas State University (KU), will hold the second session of the E-Training on School and Home Gardens cum Biodiversity Enhancement (SHGBE) for Busuanga Island, Palawan that will be held via Zoom video conferencing platform on 23 July 2020. The SHGBE online training successfully kicked off on16 July 2020 with more than 200 online learners composed of school officials and teachers, school program coordinators, parent representatives from selected elementary and high schools in Coron and Busuanga, Palawan; representatives of the local governments ofthese municipalities; and the private sector… Read more

In a virtual signing ceremony, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI) institutionalized their mutual desire to partner on areas of common interest such as education, training, and research. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 20 July 2020 by SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio and PSFI Executive Director Sebastian C. Quinones, Jr. and witnessed by officers and staff from both institutions. Dr. Gregorio stressed that SEARCA gives high priority to fostering a stronger academe-industry-government interconnectivity as part of its 11th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025) and that… Read more

Schools are recognized as excellent setting for promoting lifelong healthy eating and improving long-term, sustainable nutrition security. They play a vital role in the effort to overcome malnutrition and hunger among children, and school gardens are simple yet effective ways of improving nutrition and education of children and their families. It is in this context that the "Participatory Action Research on School and Community-Based Food and Nutrition Program for Literacy, Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development," also known as the School plus Home Gardens Project (S+HGP), was implemented in six schools in Laguna, Philippines in 2016 to 2017. It aimed to… Read more

LAGUNA, Philippines - The project Upgrading the Calamansi Value Chain towards Improving the Calamansi Industry of Oriental Mindoro, led by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), with the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) as a partner, and funded by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), is set to conclude in October 2020. In line with this, the DA-BAR’s National Technology Commercialization Program (NTCP) recently conducted a progress review to evaluate the initial outputs and successes of the project. As part of SEARCA, UPLB and DA-BAR’s agreement on the evaluation… Read more

LAGUNA, Philippines - The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)-led project on Upgrading the Calamansi Value Chain towards Improving the Calamansi Industry of Oriental Mindoro has been selected by the Grow Asia Learning Alliance (GALA) to be featured in its Spotlight Series.  This is in line with GALA’s initiative to promote action-oriented research and enable more partnerships between knowledge producers and value chain actors to scale the impact of agricultural research in the Southeast Asian region. The GALA Spotlight Series is an opportunity for agriculture researchers in Southeast Asia to have their research… Read more

A training program titled E-training on School plus Home Gardens cum Biodiversity Enhancement (SHGBE) for Busuanga Island will be conducted via the meeting platform Zoom every Thursday from 16 July to 3 September 2020, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Invited participants include officials, teachers, and parent representatives from the Coastal and Inland School Districts of the Department of Education (DepEd) Palawan, representatives of local government units of Coron and Busuanga, Palawan, and private organizations from these municipalities. The online training, endorsed by DepEd, aims to share and discuss experiences, initiatives, and good practices for implementing SHGBE or similar activities; enable… Read more

Selangor, Malaysia – Engr. Philip Donald C. Sanchez, a SEARCA scholar who just finished his MS in Agricultural Process Engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) was awarded Best Oral Presenter during the Malaysian Society of Agricultural and Food Engineers (MSAE) Webinar-Conference 2020. The conference theme was “Makanan Kita, Masa Depan Kita” translated as “Our Food, Our Future” organized by the MSAE/Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture, UPM, and MARDI on 28-29 June 2020. Engr. Sanchez presented his research on the “Potential application of laser-based imaging technology in the quality evaluation of agricultural products: a review” via web streaming due to the COVID-19… Read more

Los Baños, Laguna – SEARCA organized a Testimonial Program on 02 July 2020 as a sendoff for eight (8) graduating scholars from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) for AY 2019-2020. The Testimonial Program has been conducted annually for the last five years for all graduating SEARCA scholars from all study posts. This year, the Testimonial Program adopted a smaller and shorter format due to COVID-19 but retained its meaningful celebration of the scholars’ achievements. Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma, Program Head of the Education and Collective Learning (ECL) Department, opened the program by congratulating the scholars, most… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate in advancing youth integration and engagement in agricultural and rural development (ARD) at the national, regional, and global levels. YPARD is a global network of young professionals hosted by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) based in Rome, Italy. The signatories to the MOU are Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director, and Dr. Yemi Adeyeye, YPARD Director. SEARCA and YPARD have agreed to undertake joint programs, projects… Read more