SEARCA in the News

GUMAMELA FLOWER – A new hybrid Gumamela flower was named after Education Chief Leonor Magtolis Briones. Recently, the University of the Philippines-Los Baños Women in Public Service named the new type of “Hibiscus rosa-Sinensis” or “Gumamela” as “Leonor M. Briones”. According to the UP members, this act was due to Briones’ huge contributions to their society. Furthermore, the newly named flower was awarded to her this Saturday. According to an article from Inquirer, Briones said: “I am humbled and deeply honored to have a wonderful variant of Gumamela named after me“ Briones said that she isn’t only an advocate for education… Read more

Ipinangalan kay Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones ang bagong hybrid ng gumamela na na-develop ng Institute of Plant Breeding. Ayon sa University of the Philippines – Los Banos (UPLB) ang pagpapangalan nila kay Briones ay bilang pagpupugay sa kaniyang dedikasyon pagdating sa edukasyon at pamamahala. Dahil dito ay nagpasalamat naman si Briones. “I am humbled and deeply honored to have a wonderful variant of Gumamela named after me. As a nature lover and educator, I appreciate the UPLB’s Women in Public Service series that recognizes outstanding Filipino women in government,” sinabi ng kalihim sa isang statement ngayong Sabado… Read more

Aseans recently participated in an online leadership program to strengthen their coordination to develop and implement regional policies on climate change and sustainable land use. Eight Asean member-states were represented in the recent second Asean Climate Leadership Programme (ACLP) that was conducted by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture () and the Deutsche Gessellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmBH-Climate-Smart Land Use in Asean (CSLU) Project. The program have sessions until October 28. Zahra Mutiara, adviser for the GIZ CSLU Project, said ACLP aims to support Asean in strengthening its coordinating role to develop and… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has agreed with the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania (SABRAO) to be co-publisher of the 52-year-old SABRAO Journal of Breeding and Genetics. An international society devoted to basic and applied aspects of breeding research in economically important plant species, SABRAO has been publishing the SABRAO Journal of Breeding and Genetics since 1969. SEARCA, on the other hand, has been the publisher of the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD), a bi-annual international refereed journal first published in 2004 to promote… Read more

After months of testing and implementation, six finalists compete for the top spot in the Grand Finals of the Innovation Olympics 2.0 (IO 2.0), an agri-hackathon that challenges the next generation​ of agriculture, business, and technology Filipino leaders to develop innovative solutions to​ real-life challenges of smallholder vegetable farmers. The IO 2.0 Grand Finals, which will be shown via Facebook Live on October 15, 2:00 p.m. (GMT +8), is set to determine the winning team who will receive PhP200,000 as cash prize to improve and continue their technology solution to help farmers in the Philippines. As part of the competition… Read more

After months of testing and implementation, six finalists compete for the top spot in the Grand Finals of the Innovation Olympics 2.0 (IO 2.0), an agri-hackathon that challenges the next generation​ of agriculture, business, and technology Filipino leaders to develop innovative solutions to​ real-life challenges of smallholder vegetable farmers. The IO 2.0 Grand Finals, which will be shown via Facebook Live on October 15, 2:00 p.m. (GMT +8), is set to determine the winning team who will receive PhP200,000 as cash prize to improve and continue their technology solution to help farmers in the Philippines. As part of the competition… Read more

The Philippine government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) said the Covid-19 pandemic trained a spotlight on the interconnectedness of the health of people, animals and the environment — also known as One Health. With this, SEARCA said it chose to focus the 2021 SEARCA Photo Contest on "One Health is Wealth: Healthy Agriculture and Sustainable Food One Health is Wealth: Healthy Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems," now on its 15th year with great cash prizes up for grabs among those who will join the contest. Cash prizes of US$1,000, $800, and $500 await… Read more

A British organization has collaborated with a University of the Philippines Los Baños-based Southeast Asian regional center to empower people especially the youth to contribute to climate solutions. Providing free educational content about the causes, consequences and solutions to climate change, the British ClimateScience, a non-profit organization, aims to make learning fun, accessible, and science-backed. ClimateScience co-founder Eric Steinberger said this volunteer-driven organization has become the leading provider of accessible educational resources on solutions to climate change globally. Steinbereg noted that agriculture takes up everything even the largest share of usable land resources and that it can make a huge… Read more

ClimateScience, a United Kingdom-based nonprofit organization, has collaborated with a University of the Philippines Los Baños-based Southeast Asian regional center to empower people, especially the youth to contribute to climate solutions. Providing free educational content about the causes, consequences and solutions to climate change, ClimateScience aims to make learning fun, accessible and science-backed. Eric Steinberger, ClimateScience co-founder, said this volunteer-driven team has become the leading provider of accessible educational resources on solutions to climate change globally. "Agriculture takes up everything, even the largest share of our usable land resources and we recognize that it can make a huge difference in… Read more

A United States Agency for International Development (USAid)-funded wildlife conservation initiative called the Protect Wildlife Activity (PWA) was found to have contributed greatly to reduce the threats to wildlife and biodiversity, according to a University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)-based center. This was the observation of an evaluation team under the UPLB-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)-led Final Performance Evaluation of PWA that was also commissioned by the USAid. SEARCA director Dr. Glenn Gregorio said the PWA which covered several biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines said the results of the evaluation can… Read more