SEARCA in the News

A virtual forum on what it takes to be a transformational leader will be held on November 25, 2021. Organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) as part of its 55th anniversary celebration, the forum will feature SEARCA alumni from Thailand, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste. The speakers are Weerapon Thongma, President of Maejo University, Thailand; Dr. Asikin Yoeu, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia; and Mr. Natalino Babo Martins, Deputy Project Manager of Conservation International in Timor-Leste. Dr. Weerapon has nearly 35 years of experience in leadership… Read more
A fiesta celebrating Fiipino food and agriculture headlined by experts, advocates, and youth partners of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) was the essence of the recent 2021 Pista ng Pagkain at Kabataang Pinoy, or “Pistang PagKaPinoy,” held virtually. The youth festival featured lessons, stories, and concepts on food and how it intersects with business, nutrition, arts, gender, culture, and tourism. The speakers were Amy Besa, Owner of NYC-based Purple Yam; Cristina Sison, Co-Project Leader of UP Rural High School Youth in Agriculture Program; Raymund Vincent Aaron, Banana Chief of Villa Soccoro Farm; John Bryan… Read more
A fiesta celebrating Fiipino food and agriculture headlined by experts, advocates, and youth partners of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) was the essence of the recent 2021 Pista ng Pagkain at Kabataang Pinoy, or “Pistang PagKaPinoy,” held virtually. The youth festival featured lessons, stories, and concepts on food and how it intersects with business, nutrition, arts, gender, culture, and tourism. The speakers were Amy Besa, Owner of NYC-based Purple Yam; Cristina Sison, Co-Project Leader of UP Rural High School Youth in Agriculture Program; Raymund Vincent Aaron, Banana Chief of Villa Soccoro Farm… Read more
Dr. Magdalena Lenny Situmorang, the name of this woman figure may not be as famous as celebrities or officials who often adorn the small screen, even so beauty, we need to be proud you know have a female researcher like her. Lenny, as he is familiarly called, is a Lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). She specializes in microbial biotechnology, a science that is rarely mastered by women. And now, Lenny is one of the 4 four Indonesian research woman who gets awards L’ORÉAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP 2021. Judging from his academic track record, Lenny earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the… Read more
Across Southeast Asia, farmers and farming communities have for generations practised diverse forms of agroforestry to support livelihoods and essential ecosystem services. Agroforestry entails the complementary integration of agricultural and forestry components on a range of scales: in fields, on farms and across landscapes. Recognising the importance of agroforestry to environmental and human well-being, the 40th Meeting of ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry endorsed the ASEAN Guidelines for Agroforestry Development in October 2018. Since then, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) entered into a technical cooperation programme with ASEAN to increase the scale of adoption… Read more
THIRD-QUARTER GROWTH in agriculture output is expected to be flat after typhoons disrupted production, analysts said. Pampanga State Agricultural University Professor Roy S. Kempis said in a phone message that he projects growth to be negative to flat, weighted on the contraction side. “I believe that growth figures will remain flat closer to a negative number between minus 1.5 to 0.5%; about minus 1.0%,” Mr. Kempis said. The Philippine Statistics Authority is scheduled to release its third-quarter estimate for agriculture growth on Nov. 8, Monday.   The agriculture sector posted growth of 0.7% in the third quarter of 2020 and… Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic trained a spotlight on the interconnectedness of the health of people, animals and the environment—also known as One Health. The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), thus, chose to focus the 2021 SEARCA Photo Contest on “One Health is Wealth: Healthy Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems.” Now on its 15th year, the SEARCA Photo Contest invites photographers from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries to submit their best shots depicting One Health applications to agricultural and rural development, particularly those featuring sustainable food systems in this time of pandemic. Images that depict One Health may include… Read more
A PHILIPPINE-hosted intergovernmental treaty organization has agreed with an international society to publish a journal of plant breeding and genetics research. Under a memorandum of agreement (MoA), the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) will copublish the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania's (SABRAO) journal. Under the MoA, SEARCA as copublisher takes over the administration of the SABRAO journal while SEARCA will also host, manage and improve the SABRAO journal website. On the other hand, SABRAO will provide articles and content for forthcoming journal issues and review the layout… Read more
TECHNOLOGY innovations introduced by two universities based in Luzon and Mindanao will help smallholder vegetable farmers automate their nutrient management process, minimize labor costs and connect directly with consumers to improve their margins, yields and livelihood. These are the Automated Irrigation and Nutrient Management system by Team Airin from the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) and Alipugpug Tech Solutions vertical farming system by Project Angat from the University of Mindanao (UM). NVSU's Team Airin and UM's Project Angat were deemed the most innovative teams in the second year of the Innovation Olympics (IO 2.0), a nationwide agri-hackathon that provides an… Read more
In an unexpected turn of events, Team AIRIN from Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) and Project Angat from University of Mindanao (UM) both came out victorious in the Innovation Olympics 2.0.(IO 2.0) Grand Finals. Team AIRIN’s Automated Irrigation and Nutrient Management system and Project Angat’s vertical farming system made them the Grand Winners in the second year of the agri-hackathon. Their winning projects can help smallholder vegetable farmers increase their yields and incomes through the use of precision agriculture. From 21 participating teams composed of undergraduate and graduate students from across the country, six finalists were selected by a panel of experts and judges. The finalists were all given… Read more
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