SEARCA in the News

For the Department of Education (DepEd), the interest in agriculture should start at the basic education level so learners would have “lasting” passion about it. “For us in the Department of Education, it is most important to promote agriculture to our youth by integrating it in basic education programs,” said Education Secretary Leonor Briones in her message when she presided over the investiture of the new Southeast East Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and Opening Ceremony of the 67th SEARCA Governing Board Meeting held recently at the Umali Auditorium, the University of the Philippines… Read more

LOS BANOS, Laguna, Nov. 4 -- DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones presided the investiture of the new Southeast East Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and Opening Ceremony of the 67th SEARCA Governing Board Meeting on October 28, held at the Umali Auditorium, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Laguna. In her message, the Education Secretary emphasized the crucial role of SEARCA in the agricultural development of the country and the ASEAN region. “The agricultural sector is vital to all ASEAN countries; we always assume that it is important. It is a major portion… Read more

"We have to make agriculture not only sexy, but [with] lots of fun, exciting and [with] so much to discover. After all, agriculture is life…. We have to inculcate the love for agriculture, the love for life at the basic level. It would be too late if we try to convert them at the tertiary level." Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones made this statement in her keynote address during the investiture of Dr. Glenn Gregorio as the 11th director of Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) at the center's headquarters in University of the… Read more

The newly installed director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has envisioned his agency's strategic role in pushing for inclusive innovation and academe-industry-government interconnectivity towards "Agriculture 4.0" and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This, as SEARCA recently held the investiture rites for Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio as the 11th SEARCA Director. A distinguished rice scientist and Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the Philippines, Gregorio is also currently a Professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He brings to SEARCA his wide… Read more

THE Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MoA) is preparing the requests for proposal (RFP) to determine the capabilities of a few companies to protect the nation's food supply. Its Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said the RFP will be tabled to the Cabinet for approval before interested companies are invited to participate. "We are preparing the RFP. Once it is completed, we will table it to the Cabinet to seek approval before we could present it to the interested parties," he said at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute's (Mardi) 50th Celebration in Serdang, Selangor, yesterday. Salahuddin said… Read more

The following link will take you to INQUIRER.net: Briones: Make farming 'sexy' to young peoplehttps://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1184325/briones-make-farming-sexy-to-young-people… Read more

By The BusinessMirror Broader Look Team RIGHT from the get-go, experts had projected the opening up of the Philippine rice market as the gateway to a better life for Filipinos: lower staple prices leading to slower inflation and lesser hunger. Indeed, the liberalization of the country's rice industry allowed the unabated entry of cheaper imported staple. As figures released by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed, about 1.614 million metric tons (MMT) of rice from seven countries entered the Philippine market, from March 5, when Republic Act 11203 (the rice trade liberalization law) took effect, to October 4. The… Read more

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna: Education Secretary Leonor Briones led on Monday the formal investiture ceremony installing Glenn Gregorio as the 11th director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) at the agency's headquarters here. As the head of Department of Education (DepEd), SEARCA's focal agency in the Philippines, Briones presided over the investiture ceremony of Gregorio, who assumed office in May. At present, Gregorio is an academician at the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the Philippines and professor at the Institute of Crop Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)-College… Read more

Family farms account for more than 90% of all farms worldwide and as such they play a critical role in food production. This was affirmed by Senator Cynthia A. Villar, Chair of the Philippine Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food in her keynote message at the 2nd National Small and Family Farmers/New and Beginning Farmers Conference hosted and co-organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) recently. “Family farms are truly key players for inclusive growth and rural development, as well as to our food-secure future,” she said. Held in partnership with MoCA… Read more

Los Baños, Laguna—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture has honored Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio as its new director with a formal investiture ceremony on Monday at its headquarters here. SEARCA is one of the oldest specialist institutions of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization hosted by the Philippine government on the campus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. The institution was founded in 1966 to serve the agricultural and rural development needs of Southeast Asian countries through graduate education and training, research, and knowledge dissemination. Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones graced… Read more