TO strengthen Southeast Asia's tropical fruit industry, the International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) forged a five-year partnership with the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at SEARCA's headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna.
SEARCA Center Director Mercedita Sombilla and TFNet CEO Muhamed Salim bin Mohd Ali led the MOU signing, underscoring their organizations' shared commitment to strengthening the tropical fruit sector and bolstering research and training ecosystems in Southeast Asia and beyond.
According to SEARCA, the agreement outlines joint initiatives in agricultural education, research, innovation, and capacity building across Southeast Asia and other tropical fruit-producing regions.
Established in 2000 under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), TFNet is an intergovernmental and inter-institutional organization dedicated to promoting sustainable global development in tropical fruit production, consumption, and trade.
Under the MOU, SEARCA and TFNet will work together to advance agricultural sustainability, knowledge exchange, youth engagement, and sector development.
Sombilla said that through collaborative research, joint agricultural education and innovation programs, and the sharing of publications and knowledge products, "both institutions aim to address pressing challenges in agricultural systems and the tropical fruit value chain."
The MOU also creates opportunities for broader regional collaboration through capacity-building and multicountry projects that support farmers, researchers, industry partners, and youth.
SEARCA added that by leveraging complementary mandates, both institutions seek to foster innovation, strengthen food security, and enhance the competitiveness of tropical fruit industries while helping improve rural livelihoods.
This collaboration supports SEARCA's 12th Five-Year Development Plan: Sustainable Transformation of Agricultural Systems Through Innovation in Southeast Asia, or SUSTAIN Southeast Asia, which emphasizes policy, research, transformation, and innovation.
By scaling innovations in the tropical fruit sector and expanding research, education, and capacity-building initiatives, the partnership contributes to building resilient agricultural systems.
SEARCA added that the partnership also "ensures that smallholder farmers and rural communities benefit from emerging opportunities in the region's agri-food landscape."