SEARCA News

Dr. Bo Zhou, agriculture officer and lead technical officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations-Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO RAP), paid a visit to the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on 11 August 2023 to revisit past partnerships and explore new areas of collaboration. He was accompanied by Dr. Romeo Labios, agronomist and farming systems specialist, FAO RAP. During the meeting, Dr. Zhou was given a bird's eye view of SEARCA's programs and activities toward achieving its 11th Five-Year plan. Dr. Glenn Gregorio, SEARCA director, conveyed… Read more

Dr. Yann-rong Lin, deputy director general for partnerships of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg), visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on 8 August 2023 to discuss a proposed joint scholarship project. WorldVeg, formerly known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, is an international nonprofit institute committed to alleviating poverty and malnutrition by increasing the production and consumption of nutritious and health-promoting vegetables. The meeting started with a brief overview of the Center's mandate and its 11th Five-Year Plan. Dr. Maria Cristeta Cuaresma, senior program head of the Education and Collective… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the East-West Seed Philippines (EWPH) entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the project titled YABONG or Young Agripreneurs Building Opportunities, Nurturing Growth Bootcamp held on 9 August 2023 at the East-West Seed Hortanova Research Center in Lipa City, Batangas. The YABONG Bootcamp aims to help young farmers succeed in vegetable farming by building their capacity in production and entrepreneurship. It also intends to showcase stories of young agripreneurs to inspire more youth to engage in planting vegetables. SEARCA and EWPH both demonstrate their commitment… Read more

Continuing its commitment to accelerating transformation through agricultural innovations, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) is organizing a forum on Breeding Innovations for Increasing Productivity and Climate Resilience in Crops and Livestock on 15 August 2023 (Tuesday), 2:00 p.m., at the SEARCA Drilon Hall in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. The event is under the SEARCA Agriculture and Development Seminar Series (ADSS) and will also be livestreamed via SEARCA's Facebook page. The forum aims to create an interactive platform of engagement with key stakeholders to discuss the latest updates, emerging issues, and concerns for… Read more

The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) successfully concluded its annual UC Summer School, which took place from 24 July to 4 August 2023, at Kasetsart University (KU) Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus. This marked the 7th installment of the learning event, KU collaborated with the TALENT Programme on Sustainable Land Management of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD). Now on its two-year partnership with CIRAD, this year's program was preceded by Universitas Brawijaya in Malang, Indonesia, as the host institution. Under the theme of "Sustainability of Agricultural Systems in… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) held a hybrid Testimonial Ceremony on 3 August 2023 to honor and celebrate the graduation of the Center's 28 Full MSc and PhD scholars and 6 PhD Research scholars. Out of the 28 full scholars, 11 were co-funded by SEARCA's partners, namely the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD; National Taiwan University; Agropolis Fondation in France; and Tokyo NODAI and Nagoya University, both in Japan. The event was a joyous gathering attended in-person by eight graduating scholars together with their families while the rest of the honorees… Read more

DAKOTA, a digital tool that bolsters sustainable production of food export commodities in Indonesia will soon reach okra farmers of Grobogan in Central Java. The tool is a digital platform helping farmers achieve international market standards and fair prices through transparent records of the quality control and agricultural practices applied on their commodities. The blockchain technology behind DAKOTA creates unchangeable records of a commodity from its farm origin to retail market. A project led by the civil society organization Penabulu Foundation is adapting DAKOTA, originally designed for spice commodities, to raise the production quality, income, and market reach of 150… Read more

RIZAL, Philippines – The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), in collaboration with the Provincial Government (PG) through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg), kicked off the scoping activity of community gardens in 17 barangays from seven municipalities in Rizal province on 19–20 and 25–27 July 2023. This activity is part of the School Edible Landscaping for Entrepreneurship (SEL4E) Project being implemented by SEARCA, Rizal Provincial Government, and the Department of Education's Rizal Division Office. SEL4E is a follow-up project to SEARCA's initiative, "A Participatory Action Research on School- and Community-based Food and… Read more

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam —The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) reinforced its call for higher education institutions (HEIs) to strengthen link with industry needs during the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Training Center (RETRAC) International Conference on 13-14 July 2023. On behalf of SEARCA, Deputy Director for Programs Dr. Nur Azura Adam presented a conference paper titled, Reshaping Instruction, Research, and Development for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Southeast Asia. Taking off from a pandemic scenario, Dr. Nur underscored the role of universities in producing graduates with a transformative… Read more

Nineteen incoming Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) scholars attended the hybrid orientation meeting organized by the Center through its Graduate Scholarship and Institutional Development Unit under the Education and Collective Learning Department (ECLD-GSIDU) on 24 July 2023. The new scholars were from Cambodia (1), Indonesia (3), Malaysia (2), Myanmar (1), the Philippines (9), and Vietnam (3). They will be pursuing their graduate studies in their selected universities. The orientation featured a briefing on SEARCA, its 11th Five-Year Plan, and specific discussions about the graduate scholarship program delivered by Dr. Maria Cristeta Cuaresma, senior… Read more