TEN international students from the Kyoto University Graduate School of Economics in Japan recently visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in Laguna.
The students, who came with their teachers led by Prof. Shuji Hisano, wanted to learn about SEARCA's youth-focused agriculture initiatives.
Sharon Malaiba, SEARCA unit head for partnerships, talked about the Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation (#Y4AGRI) program, a SEARCA initiative for youth engagement.
She likewise explained Sowing Seeds: Cultivating Youth's Future in Agriculture program and the Youth in Agri Talk Show, two of #Y4AGRI's nonconventional approaches to make agriculture interesting to the youth and develop their passion for it.
Also tackled was the School-plus-Home Gardens Program (S+HGP), which aims to improve schoolchildren's nutrition, education and economic well-being.
Malaiba said the S+HGP, which was tested in six schools in Laguna, has expanded to the provinces of Rizal and Palawan, as well as offshore in Cambodia, through its offshoot projects — School Edible Landscaping for Entrepreneurship (SEL4E) and School-plus-Home Gardens-cum-Biodiversity Enhancement and Enterprise (SHGBEE).
SEARCA's graduate scholarship offerings and grants were also mentioned. These include the Grants for Research toward Agricultural Innovative Solutions (GRAINS), which provides starter funds to researchers, scientists, inventors and agripreneurs to scale up their technology or innovation models.
The guests capped their visit with a tour of the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING) AgriMuseum.