SEARCA in the News

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

EDUCATION chief Leonor Magtolis Briones' passion for education and governance was recognized by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) after naming a new gumamela hybrid in her honor. Now on its 21st year, the Women in Public Service series names Gumamela or "Hibiscus rosa-sinensis" hybrids after women who have dedicated their time and effort to public service. "I am humbled and deeply honored to have a wonderful variant of Gumamela named after me. As a nature lover and educator, I appreciate UPLB's Women in Public Service series that recognizes outstanding Filipino women in government," Sec. Briones said. Secretary… Read more

A new gumamela hybrid was named “Leonor Magtolis Briones” in honor of the secretary of the Department of Education. The University of the Philippines-Los Banos (UPLB) named its new gumamela hybrid after Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones as part of the university’s Women in Public Service series, a news release said. Briones thanked former UP president and National Scientist Emil Javier, the UPLB, the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB), and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) for naming the new Hibiscus rosa-sinensis hybrid after her. “Thank you very much, I know that [former… Read more