SEARCA in the News

Rice is the staple food of Filipino, along with fish. “If we did not have rice, our deepest comfort food, we would probably feel less Filipino,” the late food columnist Doreen Fernandez once said. On average, Filipino consume 114-120 kilograms of rice per capita per year. That’s almost double the world average of 65 kilograms per capita per year, according to Dr. Eufemio Rasco, Jr., former director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).  What most Filipinos don’t know is that rice fields are one of the major contributors of methane in the atmosphere. The journal Science reported that the atmospheric concentration… Read more

Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) berupaya mengembangkan berbagai kepakaran pertanian di lingkup Asia Tenggara. Salah satu program SEARCA adalah SEARCA Regional Professorial Chair Grants. Hibah ini diberikan kepada pakar di bidang inovasi pertanian yang memiliki kontribusi tinggi terhadap teknologi pertanian atau kebijakan Agripreneurship. Salah satu penerima penghargaan ini adalah Prof Khaswar Syamsu, Guru Besar Departemen Teknologi Industri Pertanian, Fakultas Teknologi Pertanian, IPB University. Pakar Rekayasa Bioproses IPB University ini merupakan dosen ketiga dari Indonesia yang mendapat penghargaan ini. Prof Khaswar menjelaskan bahwa SEARCA Regional Professorial Chair merupakan pengakuan dan apresiasi untuk profesor di… Read more

International think tank Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has backed the Philippine government on its stand at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and harmful fisheries subsidies. On Tuesday, SEARCA Director and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Gregorio issued his official comments and notes regarding the revised draft of the consolidated chair text on WTO’s negotiating group on rules, particularly on fisheries subsidies. “Recognizing the importance of conserving coastal and marine resources, as further emphasized in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14: Life below water), we support the… Read more

TRANSFORMING rice farms to be more resilient to climate change needs more science and technology (S&T), according to an intergovernmental treaty organization, based at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in Laguna province. Director Glenn Gregorio of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture noted this during a series of webinars, dubbed "Pagtugon sa mga Hamon sa Pagbabago sa Klima" and organized by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Philippines and The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service Foundation Inc. S&T will enable "transfarming" to produce climate change-ready crop varieties as well as quality seeds, mechanization and digitized farming, and nutritional revolution in… Read more

“Breastfeeding is essentially the first food of the human body,” said Dr. Maria Asuncion Silvestre, president of Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina, Inc. (KMI).  She said those words during the online forum which revisited current health systems through first-hand accounts of experts and grassroots community workers on pediatric education, re-lactation, and optimal infant feeding practices. According to Dr. Silvestre, breastfeeding is not just about the product that is the mother’s milk, but also the process wherein the mother serves as the primary food producer. She pointed out that the first food for the first 1,000 days of an infant starts in utero… Read more

A roundtable discussion shone a spotlight on breastfeeding as the first food system and the importance of the mother’s milk as the first food of newborn humans. Jointly organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and LATCH Los Baños (LATCH LB) and supported by Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina, Inc. (KMI) and Arugaan, the online forum revisited current health systems through first-hand accounts of experts and grassroots community workers on pediatric education, re-lactation, and optimal infant feeding practices. Breastfeeding is not just about the product that is the mother’s milk, but also the process… Read more

Competing for $20,000 grants, young Filipino researchers joined their contemporaries from Indonesia and Vietnam in a recent mentorship workshop that helped them improve their proficiency in crafting research proposals. According to Dr. Glenn Gregorio, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) director, the mentorship workshop was convened by SEARCA in partnership with the Sweden-based International Foundation for Science (IFS). 'With the long view of improving the quality and effectiveness of research in agriculture and food systems, the workshop is an integral part of the IFS-SEARCA Mentorship Program for Advance Grants for individual and collaborative research… Read more

LEADING up to the landmark United Nations Food Systems Summit in September this year, the Southeast Asian Regional Center on Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and Singapore-based CropLife Asia (CLA) convened a virtual dialogue on "Transforming Pathways: Working with Farmers in the Agri-food Systems." According to SEARCA and CLA, to transform food systems, farmers need access to appropriate, affordable, profit-enhancing technologies and sustainable crop systems that do not result in ecological degradation or social conditions. Dr. Glenn Gregorio, SEARCA director, said the dialogue discussed the use of digital technologies in producing safe and nutritious food and developing policies… Read more

THE Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR), which is funded by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), bared recently some of its success stories highlighting stakeholder engagement in Lamut, Ifugao; San Fernando, Camarines Sur; and San Luis, Batangas. These stories were shared in a recent forum jointly organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and DA-BAR. SEARCA was commissioned by DA-BAR to conduct the project “Building Up from the Gains: Lessons from and Improvements for Effective Implementation of the CPAR Program.” DA-BAR has supported CPAR as one of its banner programs… Read more

A ROUNDTABLE discussion shone a spotlight on breastfeeding as the first food system and the importance of the mother’s milk as the first food of newborn humans. Jointly organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and LATCH Los Baños (LATCH LB) and supported by Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina, Inc. (KMI) and Arugaan, the online forum revisited current health systems through first-hand accounts of experts and grassroots community workers on pediatric education, re-lactation, and optimal infant feeding practices. Breastfeeding is not just about the product that is the mother’s milk, but also the process… Read more