Category: Press Releases

March 28, 2020

Aspiring Filipino agriculture technocrats or entrepreneurs have been granted a scholarship opportunity to hone skills at the National Taiwan University (NTU) in a country venue that leads  Asia  in agriculture modernization,-tourism, and technology.

   The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study in Agriculture (SEARCA), in collaboration with NTU, has opened application for scholarship on an inaugural course, Master Program in Global Agriculture Technology and Genomic Science (ATGS).

   Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director., said the NTU-SEARCA Joint Scholarship Program for Global ATGS aims to cultivate agricultural professional talents, encourage academic excellence, and promote the research and development of agriculture within Southeast Asia.”

“The program also provides an opportunity for internship and field visits in line with NTU’s efforts to connect with industries and promote hands-on training. The program’s curriculum is interdisciplinary to develop global bio-agricultural talents that are responsive to the needs of the agriculture sector and with advanced knowledge and practical skills on contemporary agriculture,” said Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma, SEARCA Program Head for Graduate Education and Institutional Development.

    Offered by the NTU International College, Dr. Cuaresma said the Global ATGS aims to provide a deeper understanding on smart farming technology, genome science research, and breeding science and technology.

   She added that keystone courses include global agriculture technology foresight, mathematical method for life science, and scientific writing.

   Under Digital Agriculture Technology, students will explore the application of blockchain technology in agriculture, process control for smart farming, plant factory, smart technology applied to livestock production, and agriculture waste treatment engineering.

   In Genome Science, discussions will be on genetics and genomics, crop genomic breeding, advanced plant molecular biology, core biotechnology: DNA, RNA, and protein, special topics in poultry production, and medicine and products processing.

   For Breeding Science and Technology, studies will be on the agriculture of Taiwan, introduction to bioinformatics, crop modeling, and plant phenotyping.

   The program is offered in English. It requires students to finish their thesis and at least 24 credits of coursework which includes 12 credits of compulsory courses and 12 credits of elective courses to earn the degree.

   Dr. Gregorio said prior to collaborating on this joint scholarship, SEARCA and NTU have worked together in other academic activities under the auspices of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC).

   SEARCA initiated the UC in 1989 and has since served as its secretariat, while NTU is a UC associate member.

   The opportunity is also open to other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) nationals– nationals of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

Agri think tank strengthens partnerships on School +Home Garden needed in crises like Covid 19

March 26, 2020

An agricultural think-tank has strengthened its partnerships on its “School Plus Home Garden Project” (S+HGP) as farming is evidently  a pressing need in light of crises like Covid 19 that poses critical food security concerns especially in urban areas.

   While old school garden programs used to focus on just “educating” children on agriculture, the S+HGP of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in AGriculture (SEARCA) also stresses nutrition and economic and overall welfare of learners.

   Thus, its application includes homes even in urban areas that are faced with food security problems particularly in crises as the lockdowns. 

   Incidentally, lockdowns—when people could hardly go out of their homes just to buy food–  are implemented globally may lengthen indefinitely for a period of time.

   SEARCA is now replicating its S+HGP through partnerships, primarily with the Department of Education (DepEd).

   And this is open to other institutions even in urban areas that find it critically important to keep their own food gardens for food, sustainability—and many other purposes.

   In its pilot work on S+HGP in six schools in Laguna, SEARCA found out even parents of schoolchildren learned the multiple importance of home gardens.”

   “More than just establishing home gardens, the parents developed a greater sense of responsibility to ensure good nutrition for their children, while also saving on food expenses. It highlighted the multi-functionality of school gardens,” according to Blesilda M. Calub, Leila S. Africa, and Bessie M. Burgos—SEARCA resource persons.

   Such “multi-functionality” of great significance includes home gardens’ use to promote environmental sustainability, organic agriculture, edible landscaping, learning about climate change, and solid waste management (use of agricultural wastes as organic fertilizer).

   The S+HGP easily expanded. From the 6 pilot schools in Laguna, S+HGP is also now in 2 adopted schools, 23 sister schools, and 3 brother schools, according to the SEARCA officials, along with team members Henry M. Custodio, Shun Nan Chiang, Ann Gale C. Valles, Elson IanNyl E. gAling, and Maria Katrina R. Punto

   The S+HGP also stresses the important role in the local economy of local government units (LGU) that can provide funds for a more unified, LGU wide home gardening.

   “Plus in S+HGP promotes year-round production of nutritious food from both the school and home gardens… and (involving) LGUs to allocate funds, providing capacity building initiatives and services to maintain the school gardens or helping parents establish home gardens,” said SEARCA.

   SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio said an important function of home and school gardens is in opening minds of the youth in making them appreciate farming or agri-preneurship as a potential career, business, or profession.

  Gregorio has pushed for SEARCA’s partnership with DepEd on including an agriculture subject or course into DepEd’s K-12 curriculum, particularly in senior high school, where youngsters are trained on technical-vocational skills.

   Under the pilot study, the SEARCA program aimed to increase diversity and availability of food to meet the nutritional needs of children, increase knowledge and improve skills of students, teachers, and parents on food production and nutrition, reduce food expenses, create savings, and provide an alternative source of income for families to alleviate poverty.

Pilot program results

   Under the pilot program, teachers learned to prepare cropping calendars, the sequence of plant specific crops based on good timing so harvest can be year-round. The top 10 most produced crops were mustard, pechay, okra, radish, lettuce, kulitis (amarathn), papaya, upo, patola, and talinum.

   These are other positive results of the program, according to SEARCA report:

• The improved supply quality of fresh vegetables in the school-year studied had an estimated aggregate yield of 1,396 kilos valued at P42,559. Harvest per school ranged from 87-465 kilos depending on garden area with 19 to 77 percent used for school feeding, 0.5-36 percent shared with pupils and parent helpers, and 1-45 percent sold to other parents and teachers or cooked in class.
• There were significant increases in height, weight, and Body Mass Index (of participating students), translating to 33 percent rehabilitation rate from wasted to normal nutritional status among the pilot elementary schools and 44 percent rehabilitation rate in the secondary school.
•  There was an increase from 49 to 55 percent in the proportion for studetns who ate vegetables.
•  The program became a venue for learning environmental sustainability. Topics included producing organic fertilizer from segregated biodegradable wastes, and mulching to protect soil from erosion, conserve soil moisture, control weeds, and increase soil organic matter for soil carbon build up. The mini-greenhouse provided by the project was designed with a rainwater collection system to showcase a simple climate-smart strategy to adapt to climate change.

Garden tools

   The S+HGP provided its participants garden inputs and tools,  a mini greenhouse with rainwater collection system for schools, garden inputs, and tools. From these, the schools produced vegetable seedlings year-round.

   “This used to be a major constraint because their practice of direct seeding exposed the seeds to too much rain, sunlight, or to insect pests. Capacity building for teachers included training on garden planning, edible landscaping, organic vegetable production and pest management, and vermicomposting,” SEARCA reported.

    In Alaminos, the pilot school was provided by the LGU with a vermicomposting shed.

   The S+HGP was funded by SEARCA and the Asian Development Bank-Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction through the SEAMEO College.

   Meanwhile, SEARCA’s K-12 curriculum program already prepares youngsters for a more in-depth professional agri-preneurship career.

   “The programs include faculty development — offering graduate scholarships in agriculture and allied degrees, short courses on agribusiness and agri-entrepreneurial mindset and education, and continuing education and professional licensure exams review services,” Gregorio said.

“The program shall embed upgraded agri-business context and examples in the K to 12 curriculum”.

   DepEd Secretary Leonor M. Briones said the DepEd will explore urban-based gardening for schools in urban areas like gardening on rooftops and pots.

“Make agriculture sexy like grafting. That is very interesting, kasi may (application) ng science iyan (Science has an application on that). Hindi ka lang nagtatanim at gumagawa ng (You are not just planting and making) organic fertilizers,” she added.

   Briones reported that there are existing schools with little farms and school sites bigger in size and even have tilapia farms.

   Gregorio said the Southeast Asian population is young — providing their respective countries many benefits because “they can become good leaders and the catalyst for economic, social, and cultural development” Melody Mendoza Aguiba

December 30, 2019

ASEAN’s farm research center SEARCA is boosting support for  favourable agri-biotechnology regulatory policies amid local calls for the revocation of the commercial permit of pro-Vitamin A-rich Golden Rice.

   Believing agri-biotechnology will be key to food security and upliftment of farmers’ lives,   the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture said it has

 partnered with three expert groups for this program to boost expert knowledge in regulations on Living Modified Organisms (LMOs).   LMOs include farm products more known to be the controversial GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

   This is through the opening of the program “Second Asian Course on Agribiotechnology.”

   Despite safety questions on these biotechnology products, SEARCA deems it important to harness the fully potential of agri-biotechnology through “effective communication and science-based regulatory frameworks.”

   SEARCA Director and National Academician Glenn B. Gregorio, highlighted SEARCA’s important role in advancing science-based innovations to address poverty and food security.

   “We stand behind products of agribiotechnology that increase agricultural productivity to feed a growing population in the midst of dwindling natural resources and erratic changes in climate,” Gregorio said. 

   “Due attention must be given to our resource-poor farmers by providing them access to information, best practices, and new technologies that gives them a fighting chance to cope with the many challenges they face and to open up better opportunities for them and their families so that they can have better quality lives,” said Gregorio. 

   According to Dr. Mahaletchumy Arujanan, ISAAA Global Coordinator, “we organized this training program to bring our Asian stakeholders updated information and hands-on experience on agribiotechnology, exercises on food/feed safety assessment, and tips on strategic communication, and risk management and communication.” 

   This year’s Asian Short Course on Agribiotechnology gathers 25 participants from both public and private sectors of eight countries. These are China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.  

   SEARCA’s partnership is with the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA), Malaysian Biotechnology Information Center, and Monash University.    

   The program focuses on Agribiotechnology, Biotechnology Regulation, and Communication. 

   While government has just approved permit for use for food, feed, and processing of Golden Rice, Greenpeace  has reportedly filed a petition for the permit’s revocation.

   Golden Rice has been questioned by interest groups due to the technology that inserted a gene into the grain that enables the staple to produce increased Vitamin A, helping reduce massive Vitamin A-deficiency (VAD).

    It is targeted at preventing blindness that develops in around 500,000 people, mainly children, yearly, reported the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board (GRHB)

   “Nearly nine million children die of malnutrion every year. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) severely affects their immune system, hence it is involved in many of these children’s deaths in the guise of multiple diseases. Malaria deaths in children under five years of age has been linked with deficiencies in the intake of protein, vitamin A and zinc,” said the board.

   The rice technology will have huge economic impact for poor farmers as they no longer have to invest more into the seed.  The technology is being offered for free by humanitarian groups that helped its development. 

   Developers include Sygenta, the Philippine Rice Research Institute and International Rice Research Institute, among others.

   “The technology is built into each and every harvested seed, and does not require any additional investment. Let’s consider the potential of a single Golden Rice seed: a single plant will produce in the order of 1,000 seeds; within four generations or less than two years, that one plant will have generated seeds (amounting to more than 10to the twelfth power)”.

   “This represents up to 28-thousand metric tons of rice, which would be already sufficient to feed 100-thousand poor people for one year,” said the GRHB. Melody Mendoza Aguiba

December 4, 2019

Economists and rice sector leaders have pushed for mixed policy recommendations in light of the rice tarification law (RTL) — pressing for sustained implementation yet strong and “guaranteed” farmer support, or the RTL may turn to be “disastrous.”

   Safety nets for the protection of farmers are of prime importance as these apparently have not been installed as evidenced by farmers’ poor plight from palay’s collapsing price.    

   This has been raised during the “Regional Implications in the Philippines’ RTL” forum organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). 
   “The challenges we always face every cropping season relative to systemic barriers to farmers’ income  were not addressed head on in the RTL,” said Cresencio C. Paez, director of Asian Farmers Association for Rural Sustainable Development.

   “Safety nets for the protection of the farmers and consuming public were not taken into account concretely and strongly. A lot is said about promises. (But there is a need for) ‘guarantee’ of protection.”

   The challenges waiting to be addressed, Paez said,  amid the RTL’s implementation are “price volatility, land productivity, climate change’s effects, market power which involves cartel (traders hoarding rice) resulting in market abnormalities, governance, corruption, weak government agencies, and faulty extension delivery.” 

   “The RTL, if not well calibrated in its implementation, will be disastrous, and it is now happening this early,” said Paez at the SEARCA forum.

   SEARCA, in its mandate to help upgrade graduate education in agriculture in South East Asian countries, believes the vision toward a common ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market is steering farms to form regional alliances. 

   That leads to“promoting and strengthening intra-ASEAN trade.” A liberalized rice sector under the RTL regime readies Philippines   in such globalized trade,

   Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA director, said government should have a system by which the
“right price of the right rice” can be determined. 

   This has significant implication for both the farmers and consumers, Gregorio said.

   Farmers depend on the right price of rice for their income and livelihood.  Consumers likewise depend on the right price of rice for their economical consumption of the staple as an important factor in keeping a desirable standard of living.  

   The ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR), designed to beef up food security in emergencies in among ASEAN countries, should be sustained, although threatened, with the RTL.

   Jansinee Kankaew of the APTERR Secretariat, said the National Food Authority (NFA)’ s function has been altered as a result of the RTL.  This may adversely affect implementation of APTERR. 

   Thus, the APTERR program should be maintained for emergency purposes amid the RTL, Kankaew said at the SEARCA forum.

   APTERR is a reserve fund of 787,000 metric tons (MT) contributed by ASEAN members for emergency use .  Philippines contributes 12,000 MT of rice for this reserve.

   Jerry E. Pacturan International Fund for Agricultural Development country program officer, said the RTL is in track in supporting rural transformation and modernization. 

   “It will foster better use of resources, higher productivity, farm consolidation, mechanization of the rice sector, and improved focus on suitable rice areas,” he said at the SEARCA forum.

   Nevertheless, government should have a “more responsive strategy” so that vision toward diversification of the agriculture sector will be a reality.  With diversified agriculture, farmers will be able to shift or add growing of more profitable high value crops—fruits and vegetables–  and earn higher income.

   “If resources are managed properly and government focuses equal attention on other high value crops that the country has competitive advantage in,  a highly productive, quality-oriented, product-differentiated, and modernized rice industry will improve agriculture performance,” said Pacturan.

   The country may even be able to export specialty and heirloom rice from upland farms, he said.

   Dr. Ramon L. Clarete of the UP School of Economics said that there has been initial shock as Philippines appears imported rice this year at a higher 10% of  total consumption.

   That is a significant jump compared to just 5-7% imports in previous years. 

   Yet this import percentage will likely no longer exceed 15%, Clarete said.

    This is as the rice sector steps up to demands of competitiveness as a result of the RTL

   “The import liberalization may cause higher productivity to local rice farms and efficiency along its local rice value chains– milling and logistics. We will retire those inefficient and marginal rice farms, and what’s left would be the efficient farms. Old rice mills would have to go.  Like Cambodia the remaining rice millers invest in modern rice mills and much larger storage and other post-harvest facilities,” he said.

   Clarete’s policy recommendation is for government to help facilitate alliances of farms in order to boost productivity.  This will help small farms to commonly achieve economies of scale.

   “The one-hectare farm household or so can still be part of the industry. The farm can actually boost its productivity if it joins an alliance of several others and get their aggregated farm managed professionally.” (Melody Mendoza Aguiba)