SEARCA News

ORIENTAL MINDORO, Philippines - A baseline study for the project Upgrading the Calamansi Value Chain towards Improving the Calamansi Industry of Oriental Mindoro was conducted by the project team composed of staff from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and partners from Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology (MinSCAT) on 22-26 April 2019. Farmer-members of the Victoria Kalamansi Farmers Federation (VKFF), traders, and processors in the municipalities of Victoria, Naujan, and San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro were interviewed.  Of the eight groups of processors interviewed, six are led by females, who are either the general managers or the… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines – The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has successfully trained learners on video editing and online media production during the third face-to-face (F2F) session of the Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) Mentorship Program: Communicating Agriculture and Fisheries Research for Inclusive and Sustainable Development (CAFRISD), on 24-26 April 2019, at the SEARCA Residence Hotel Annex.  The IKM Mentorship Program is a capacity-building project funded by the Philippine Department of Agriculture–Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR). It aims to facilitate improved agricultural and fisheries research reporting and knowledge management. It employs a blended… Read more

BOGOR, Indonesia – Sixteen (16) institutions consisting of embassies, universities, other educational organizations, and scholarship providers, including SEARCA, participated in the Scholarship Expo at the IPB JOB FAIR 2019 held on 27-28 April 2019 at the main campus of Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB). In addition, more than thirty (34) corporations also participated in the Career Expo of the same event. More than two thousand undergraduate and post graduate students, as well as recent graduates, attended the event.  The job fair is being organized by the Career Development and Assessment unit of IPB (CDA-IPB) every year, so that IPB students and… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA, Philippines – Deans and Heads of Animal Science and Crop Science Departments of six (6) member universities of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) revisited the status of curriculum and research programs on pasture and forage crops through a roundtable discussion held at the SEARCA Headquarters on 24- 25 April 2019. The two-day meeting aimed to identify the strengths, gaps, opportunities, and challenges in curriculum and research programs, and to recommend solutions to address the gaps and challenges, including those faced by students pursuing forage and pasture science as… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA, Philippines – In its continuous commitment to promote inclusivity and sustainability in the agricultural value chain development, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) conducted the 2nd Value Chain Development (VCD) Course on 22-26 April 2019 at the SEARCA Headquarters, here.  On its second year, the SEARCA-pioneered VCD course aimed to look through the agricultural value chain lens in order to analyze and design interventions to promote value addition for various value chain players, especially the marginalized actors in the process. Accordingly, the course also sought to capacitate the participants in… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – The Project Team for the "Promotion and Dissemination of Integrated Pest Management Strategies," a component of the project Upgrading the Calamansi Value Chain towards Improving the Calamansi Industry in Oriental Mindoro, conducted a pest and disease baseline survey in calamansi farms and plant nurseries accredited by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) in the province of Oriental Mindoro on 10-12 April 2019.  The team conducted focused group discussions (FGDs) with farmer-groups and associations in Victoria (Victoria Kalamansi Farmers Federation, VKFF) and Pola (Matulatula Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative, MARCCO, and the Matulatula Fruits and Citrus Growers Association… Read more

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – Fifteen Halal researchers, academicians, and officers from government regulatory bodies across six Southeast Asian countries participated in the four-day regional event here dubbed Understanding the Fundamentals of Halal towards Food Security in the ASEAN Region.  The workshop was held at the Everly Putrajaya Hotel on 8-11 April 2019. It was a collaboration between the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), together with the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) and the Food Security Center (FSC) of the University… Read more

ORIENTAL MINDORO, Philippines – A baseline study on plant nursery operators and calamansi processors was conducted by the project team composed of staff from UPLB, together with partners from Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology (MinSCAT), and the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg) of Oriental Mindoro on 1-6 April 2019 in the municipalities of Victoria, Pola, and Roxas for the project Upgrading the Calamansi Value Chain towards Improving the Calamansi Industry of Oriental Mindoro.  Of the eight plant nursery operators interviewed, only three were accredited by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI). The retail price of the calamansi… Read more

SINGAPORE – SEARCA led the Regional Workshops on Knowledge Management (KM) and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Systems (MEALS) on 12-13 March 2019 at Hotel Chancellor in Singapore. The regional workshops were conducted under the project supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) titled Supporting Smallholder Farmers in Asia and Pacific Islands Region through Strengthened Agricultural Advisory Services (SAAS).  The back-to-back workshops had 18 participants from Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA), Asia-Pacific Islands Rural Advisory Services Network (APIRAS), Bangladesh Agricultural Extension Network (BAEN), Philippine Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Central Asia… Read more

ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines – More than a hundred participants composed of farmers, local government officials and representatives from the private sector and academe from the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union attended the Biotechnology 101 and Joint Department Circular (JDC) No. 1, Series of 2016 Public Briefing held at Plaza del Norte, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte on March 28, 2019.  Scientists and experts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines gave presentations on the science of biotechnology, food and environmental safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, different biotech… Read more