Nation

Forging partnerships for community resilience and self-reliance has been the fulcrum of both #SEARCA and the Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) in navigating the new normal. BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO UNIVERSITY of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) and Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) have teamed up to help boost the production of onion, one of the country’s high-value crops. JGF Executive Director Ma. Gisela Tiongson said farmers need partners who can provide them with access to information and technology to help them improve their productivity, increase the value of their produce, and in the process, build their agro-enterprises. “I believe Searca’s experience and expertise in education, trai...

MUÑOZ, Nueva Ecija (April 24)—The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) here is set to distribute a P5 billion worth of farm machinery under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund mechanization program of the Department of Agriculture (DA). The DA said the 5,098 farm machinery consists of 2,574 pieces of farm machines for land preparation like four-wheel tractors and one-hand tractors and attachments like tillers totaling P1.7 billion. It said another 496 farm machinery will be for crop establishment like transplanters and seeders worth P500 million and 2,028 for post-harvest equipment mechanical harvesters, thrashers and milling machines worth P2.8 billion. For 2019 and 2020, there were nearly 680,000 farmer beneficiaries who have benefite...

BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO THE Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) has forged an agreement with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) as part of its advocacy to champion excellence in agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia. Glenn Gregorio, Searca director, said a memorandum of understating (MoU) was formally signed between Searca and IIRR represented by Emilita Monville-Oro, IIRR acting regional director for Asia and concurrent country director for the Philippines, in a virtual meeting last April 6. IIRR is a nonprofit organization that has been helping to empower rural communities in Southeast Asia, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa. The signing was witnessed by Joselito Florendo, Searca deputy...

BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO THE Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) has entered an agreement with the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) to renew its agri-biotech advocacy in Southeast Asia. Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which was formalized on April 13, Searca and ISAAA have committed to create an enabling environment that will unleash the potential of biotechnology for agricultural development. Searca director Glenn Gregorio said they recognize the important role of working with like-minded institutions like ISAAA in supporting Searca’s mission of elevating the lives of small-scale farmers in developing countries through knowledge sharing on different agricultural innovatio...

DR. GLENN B. GREGORIO BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO THE agriculture sector of the Philippines and Southeast Asia is seen having better prospects for 2021 despite the disruption of agricultural production by several catastrophes and the pandemic that slowed down the pace by which the sector plays as an engine for economic development in Southeast Asia. In his 2020 year-end message, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) Director Glenn Gregorio noted that while the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic crippled most of the key economic sectors in the Philippines, the agriculture sector was able to maintain positive growth in 2020. “It must be acknowledged that there were earlier production growth targets that may not have been ach...

BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO LOS BAÑOS, Laguna (September 24)—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) will lead the crafting of a roadmap for the pork-based processed products value chain in the Philippines. According to Searca Director Glenn Gregorio, the roadmap would be under the five-year “Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration in the Asean Region: Responding to Food Security and Inclusiveness Concerns” project jointly implemented by the International Food Policy Research Institute and Searca. Asean stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is made up of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Gregorio said Searca would lead th...

BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO TO help farmers establish a set of practices in their farming operations for emerging commodities amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) convened a two-day virtual training-workshop. According to Searca Director Glenn Gregorio, the need to help farmers to rethink and redesign their current farming methods was the reason for conducting the “Virtual Training-Workshop on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) For Emerging Agricultural Commodities Amid Covid-19 Pandemic.” “The pandemic has greatly affected agricultural production and food systems. It has also emphasized food supply and its sa...