Category: SEARCA

November 23, 2019

ASEAN arm SEARCA has supported the development of organized and skilled farmers that now form part of Grow Asia, a farm production partnership platform that’s benefitting 117,000 smallholders in coconut, coffee, corn, fisheries, and vegetables.

   The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) reported that Grow Asia, through its Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Development (PPSD), has become a successful farm partnership model.

   Bernie S. Justimbaste and Edwin P. Bacani reported in the SEARCA-published “Competency Certification for Agricultural Workers in Southeast Asia” that Grow Asia has demonstrated farming models that now integrate small farm owners into the big ASEAN value chain.

   ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) co-founded Grow Asia with the World Economic Forum.

   Grow Asia-PPSD has built synergies between different value chain players in agriculture.  It facilitates delivery of many interventions including agricultural and technical-vocational (Tech-Voc) skills training in the production of these farm products:

• Coconut– Grow Asia-PPSD is providing a Mindanao-based program multiple interventions in farmers’ production of coconut water:  development of skills and know-how in coconut intercropping, replanting, and market access. Partners in this program are Unilever, Friends of Hope, and KFI Center for Community Development.
• Coffee—Ten cooperatives in Tagbina, Surigao del Sur are being helped by a Nestle project through technical assistance, intercropping know-how, provision of quality planting materials (Robusta coffee), and establishment of market.  Macnut Philippines is also involved in contract growing and buy-back of Arabica coffee. This project has 15 other partners including the Philippine Coffee Alliance.
• Corn-  Farmers in Zamboanga del Norte have been connected through ZMDC Grains Inc. to a hog farmers’ cooperative in Batangas (to buy corn).  Aside from skills training, interventions include credit and post-harvest technologies. Partners here are Pioneer, and 8 other agencies including Philippine Maize Federation Inc.
• Fisheries—A hatchery for mudcrab for export has been constructed that is supporting 1,000 farmers.  Interventions are working capital credit, know-how on the development of loan products and business development, and technical assistance via the Zamboanga Peninsula-wide baseline and performance indicators system.  The project has 8 other partners including Dipolog School of Fisheries.
• Vegetables—Interventions in this Zamboanga program include design of vegetable supply chain from quality seeds to the sale of vegetables to supermarkets. Other interventions are credit, post harvest facility, and a water management system.  Partners are East West Seed, Jollibee, and Zamboanga local government unit.

   SEARCA has supported the replication of such farm production model as that of Grow Asia. 

  This, as Grow Asia-PPSD has proven to foster skills capability building of agriculture human resource, a major SEARCA function being ASEAN’s graduate education and research center.

   This mandate involves not only development of academic or entrepreneurial agriculture skills but also Tech-Voc farm skills to help improve the labor force in ASEAN agriculture.

   SEARCA has actively supported Tech-Voc Education and Training (TVET) since it was tapped by  ASEAN education ministers (SEAMEO) to lead a research on competency certification for agricultural workers in Southeast Asia.

   SEARCA Director Glenn B. Gregorio said a common competency certification system among ASEAN countries will enable freer exchange of farm workers between countries.

   ASEAN countries are working toward one ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) in order to allow this matching of farm skills and competencies between countries.       

   Gregorio said the AQRF recognizes both non-formal and informal learning in assessing farm workers’ skills level and qualifications.

   “The AQRF would benefit agricultural workers as they acquire skills and knowledge largely through non-formal and informal learning modes provided mostly by agriculture extension services systems,” said Gregorio.

   ASEAN countries have been concerned about the status of skills among agricultural workers as they acknowledge that “competitiveness, productivity, and economic growth largely depend on the ability to acquire and use knowledge, as well as to attract the best talents.’”

   As ASEAN aspires to have a “single market and production base”, the AEC (The ASEAN Economic Community) Blueprint has called for a “free flow of skilled workers” between ASEAN states.

   ASEAN leaders from ministries of education, labor, and vocational training,  met last Sept. 9-10, 2019 in Brunei to develop strategies on the adoption of AQRF in ASEAN.

    The Philippines’ delegation include those from Department of Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and SEARCA.

    Gregorio said that as part of a SEARCA study, SEARCA has recommended that partnerships and alliances (such as that in Grow Asia-PPSD) should be encouraged in ASEAN countries.

   Partnerships under Grow Asia-PPSD is seen by 2020 to involve 10 million smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia.

   “Currently, it has reported to have collectively reached nearly 500,000 smallholder farmers through 26 value chain initiatives,” said Justimbaste and Bacani.

   “The private sector can play a crucial role in spreading lifelong and reskilling opportunities among agricultural workers, while innovating on methods of education and training delivery that fit the prevailing non-formal and informal learning and skills development in the agricultural and rural areas,” said SEARCA authors said.

  “The driving strategy to scale up these opportunities is to put in place a competency certification system.” (Melody Mendoza Aguiba)

1.  SEARCA Director Glenn B. Gregorio
2. Competency Certification for Agricultural Workers in Southeast Asia

Philippines strengthens skills of agricultural workers, sends 17 state colleges to tech-voc training mission in Malaysia

April 10, 2019

The Philippines has beefed up effort to strengthen skills of agricultural workers as it sent 17 state universities and colleges (SUC) to a Malaysian regional meeting on technical-vocational educational training (TVET) that can support local farm sector development.

As part of helping enhance skills of agricultural workers, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has supported sending 36 representatives from 17 SUCs in support of labor exchange in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asian ministers are investing in more TVET jobs program, aligning each other’s program for standardization and labor exchange.

SEARCA is also carrying out a research on competency certification for agricultural workers to promote TVET in agriculture.

The Philippine government is supporting technical-vocational (tech-voc) jobs having ratified last month the Tulong Trabaho Act (Republic Act 11230). It establishes a Philippine Labor Force Competencies Competitiveness PRogram. Training fees for tech-voc jobs will be free under the law.

Government is also strengthening capacity development for agricultural workers in TVET as studies have shown that “excellent agricultural vocational schools persist in serving the rural community and strengthen school enterprise cooperation.”

A World Bank study showed that agricultural tech-voc schools in China have popularized new technology in agriculture and production methods and have optimized planting techniques.

“The school has dispatched teachers to train farmers in cultivation, pest control and preservation,” according to the World Bank’s “Case Study of Excellent TVET Institutions.”
TVET agricultural schools also help construct pilot farms.

TVET participants

The country’s delegates to the TVET meeting come from Bicol State College of Applied Science and Technology, Bulacan State University, Camarines Norte State College, Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Central Luzon State University, Central Mindanao University, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, Guimaras State College, Iloilo Science and Technology University, Iloilo State College of Fisheries, Lyceum Northwestern University, Mariano Marcos State University, Mindoro State College of Agriculture of Technology, Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Pangasinan State University, President Ramon Magsaysay State University, Saint Louis University, Tarlac Agricultural University, Trimex Colleges Inc., University of Mindanao, and University of the Immaculate Conception.

There are also representatives from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) at the conference in Ipoh, Malaysia which was convened by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) last March 26-27.

The TVET program of Southeast Asia aims to enhance the internationalization and partnership of TVET institutions and promote global competitiveness and 21st century skills of TVET students.

SEAMEO is also developing a common regional policy framework for labor,
skills, and learner mobility that will allow competent Filipino farm workers to work in the neighboring countries.

World Bank study

The TVET agricultural schools cited in the World Bank study built farms in the rural areas, training centers for seed production, research laboratories on campus and training centers outside the school. These also formulated training courses with programs reflecting efficient production systems in enterprises.

For one, the Heilongjiang Nongken Vocational offered food safety and quality system training to companies and conducted research on the preservation of mashed potato.

Tech-voc jobs in agriculture

As there has been a decreasing enrolment in agricultural schools and a decreasing number of farm workers, the World Bank study has recommended the following to enhance training in tech-voc jobs:

1. Promote development of agricultural vocational education.
“Promoting the development of agricultural vocational education is closely linked to the development of regional economies in China. To support the country’s economic development goals, the government must continue to pursue agricultural modernization, which in turn will develop agricultural vocational education.”

2. Promote green and creative agricultural production which is now recognized by trade certification advocates globally.

3. Develop the processing industry of local agricultural products to increase added value.

4. Develop the agricultural cooperative model to support the farmers throughout the production process.

5. Enhance IT resources to provide on-line courses on agricultural on tech-voc training.

6. Develop the online market of agricultural products to promote their production, sales, branding and other related activities.

7. Enhance the attraction of Agriculture-related majors to raise awareness on the developing agriculture sector.

“Currently, the development of the agriculture industry is far beyond the traditional planting, and this new development requires a large number of excellent skilled workers.”

Tech-voc schools also need to integrate new agricultural trends and technology into their curriculum.

“Government also needs to increase public finance to improve learning conditions within agricultural vocational schools and between the schools and enterprises. The increase in teacher welfare and training will also do much to develop agricultural tech-voc education.”

SEA cooperation

Southeast Asian countries are collaborating on putting up policy reforms in tech-voc education even in agriculture, recognizing its unique role in rural development.

“All Southeast Asian countries have placed TVET in mainstream education because of its important role in the socio-economic development of a nation. In addition, TVET has been identified as one of the seven priority areas in education in Southeast Asia as agreed at the Strategic Dialogue of Education Ministers (SDEM).” (Growth Publishing for SEARCA-Melody M. Aguiba)

Tokyo University of Agriculture introduced off season production of calamansi in Victoria, Mindoro
March 29, 2019

The Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI) has introduced the off season production of calamansi in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro as part of helping expand jobs and beef up Philippines’ calamansi export.

A technology on pruning and the use of plant growth regulators in order to delay the harvest of calamansi have been employed in a pilot calamansi production in Victoria.

With such techniques, harvest can become year-round. This will enable farmers to enjoy a higher income from the high value crop. Production will not be available in just a single season, peaking to a high volume and causing prices to collapse.

It also raises potential to expand the Philippines’ export of around 170 metric tons (MT) yearly to Hongkong, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Export is in the form of fresh and processed calamansi.

The Mindoro State College of Agriculture & Technology (MinSCAT) led by Dr. Ma. Conception L. Mores, vice president, has coordinated with Tokyo NODAI to identify farm sites for the continuous trial on the off season calamansi technology.

Farmer-cooperators had been tapped to participate in the pilot farming so as to train Filipino farmers.

“The success of these farming technologies in attaining a stable supply of calamansi even during lean months will bring farmers in a better position where they can maximize the economic benefits brought about by higher level of farmgate prices, which in turn raise farm income,” reported Patricia Ann A. Pielago of SEARCA.

The South East Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture (Searca) has partnered with MinSCAT and Tokyo NODAI in this capability building project.

Two types of pruning were employed to delay fruiting: the half and the full pruning of shoots, young flower buds, and fruits.

Basal application of fertilizer solutions using abscissic acid (ABA) and Miyobi Gold, a commercial fertilizer in Japan containing natural type of ABA and potassium were also done to promote and increase flower formation during off-season.

The 2-hectare calamansi demonstration farm owned by calamansi grower Cornelio Palomar in Brgy. Leido, Victoria was the chosen experimental site considering the age (6 years) and height (1 to 2.5 meters) of trees. These fit the required tree characteristics for each treatment.

A total of 30 calamansi trees were purposively selected, tagged, and weeded. These were equally divided into six treatments including the control.

A quarter of a kilogram of fruit samples for each of the 4 maturity stages of calamansi (mature green, breaker, ripe, and over-ripe) were gathered for laboratory analysis to determine the physio-chemical characteristics. That includes ascorbic acid content as part of the fruit quality evaluation.

The export of more processed calamansi (puree, juice) may be expanded by the project.

“The quality evaluation of fruits produced in the area at different ripening stages is expected to aid in determining the suitable maturity stage ideal for processing.”

Dr. Tadashi Baba, Dr. Yoshitaka Kawai, Mika Yoshida from the Department of Agriculture – Postharvest Physiology and Technology of Tokyo NODAI, agreed to replicate their previous joint study on calamansi with the University of the Philippines Los Banos-Post Harvest Technology REsearch Center (UPLB-PHTRC) in Mindoro.

Providing technical assistance and logistical support needed are Dr. Jose Medina and Pielago,SEARCA program coordinator, Dr. Josephine Agravante and Kristelle Marie Ybañez from UPLB-PHTRC.

There will be a systematic way of monitoring, data collection, and proper documentation to analyse the technology’s efficacy.

Export

The country’s calamansi export ranged from 20 to 35 MT in 2008 to 2013 with an average yearly export of 29.5 MT in fresh fruits.

A value chain advantage may be found in processing more fresh fruits.

Studies showed that constraints in calamansi sector’s growth include lack of good-quality calamansi seedlings; high incidence of pests and diseases; declining volume of production; huge postharvest losses; limited access to market; inconsistent quality of processed calamansi products; and low prices during peak season.

There is also lack of resources, skills, knowledge, and experience in collective marketing among calamansi farmers.

The two-year project aims to address these technical and market constraints.
It intends to improve calamansi production and fruit quality by using proven technologies and practices in integrated pest management, fertilization, off-season fruiting, and postharvest handling.

The project will build on the gains of SEARCA’s action research program “Piloting and Upscaling Effective Models of Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (PUEM-ISARD) that helped revitalize the calamansi industry of Oriental Mindoro.

SEARCA has been implementing PUEM-ISARD with MinSCAT and the local government units of Oriental Mindoro since 2015.

Calamansi

Calamansi is indigenous to the Philippines. The largest production is in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.

According to the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Program, buyers prefer calamansi from Oriental Mindoro because it has a thicker rind, stronger taste, longer shelf-life, and resists weight loss.

Calamansi, or calamondin, is used primarily as juice, puree, and for souring food.

Production had declined over a 6-year period from 199,675 MT over a land area of 20,956 hectares in 2008 down to 164,050 MT over a land area of 20,246 hectares in 2013.

The decline is due to the greening disease or ”huanglubin’ which decreases yield and causes death of trees, reported the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC).

Calamansi is produced primarily from MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblom, Palawan– 6,872 hectares), Central Luzon (Zambales, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan-1,734ha) and Ilocos Region (1,026ha) in Luzon.

In Mindanao, producers are in Davao Region (1,797 hectares), CARAGA (1,412 hectares) and Zamboanga Peninsula (1,077 hectares).

Yield has been dropping from an average of 9.53MT hectares in 2008 to 8.10 MT in 2013, down to an annual growth rate of -3.18.

A sizable 93% of the volume as of 2013 was used domestically for food and the rest for export.

With production decline, prices has been increasing at P23.13 per kilo in 2013 from only P13.28 per kilo in 2008. End (Growth Publishing for SEARCA).

PHOTO CAPTION
1. Dr. Tadashi Baba (1st from right) and Dr. Yoshitaka Kawai (2nd from right) demonstrating the full-pruning technique as another treatment for off-season fruiting of calamansi
2. Samples of calamansi fruits at different ripening stages subject to quality evaluation (from L-R: over-ripe, ripe, breaker and mature green)
3. Processing calamansi into products like calamansi juice, puree, jam and others will provide added value to calamansi harvests. When there is an oversupply of harvest, the best option is to process them into products of higher value.

International conference on Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture to help boost nutrition-rich food production, cut malnutrition that affect 15-25% of population
3 November 2018

An international conference on Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture (NSA) will be held in the Philippines to help boost vitamins and minerals-rich food production and cut malnutrition that’s adversely affecting 15-25% of 105 million Filipinos.
The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), in a tieup with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will host “Strategic Approaches to Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture and Food Systems in Southeast Asia” on Nov. 7-10, 2018.
“Our food security ranking globally shrunk from rank 62 in 2011 to 72 in 2017 out of 109 countries. FAO through its Integrated Food Security Classification mapped the entire Philippines as food insecure,” according to a SEARCA NSA primer.
“Food security is continuously challenged by poor agricultural productivity brought about by climate change, environmental degradation, higher input cost, low farm income and lack of competitiveness.”
NSA is a concept that has recently emerged in light of the pervasiveness of malnutrition especially in developing countries as the Philippines.
It seeks to maximize a farming system that enhances nutritional supply especially in impoverished areas through provision of a variety of affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate and safe food.
“It is generally recognized that addressing malnutrition requires an integrative approach in the food chain from production, processing, retail to consumption,” said SEARCA.
“Making agriculture and food systems nutrition-sensitive also requires that we have to address input quality, production, post-harvest handling, processing, retailing and consumption, and to deliver safe and nutritious foods all year round to the consumer.”
Also supporting the conference are the Interdisciplinary Studies Center on Food and Nutrition Security of the University of the PHIlippines Los Banos and Cavite State University (CvSU).
The conference will formulate polices and strategies to enhance NSA in relation to food and nutrition security.
In line with Food and Nutrition Security program in Southeast Asia, SEARCA has put in sessions on case studies on integrating nutrition into agriculture. It will focus success stories of addressing nutrition across stages of the food system.
Fisheries production—aquaponics, organic food farming, hydroponics, agricultural biotechnology, potato and mushroom production, nutrition in vegetables, plant factories in urban setting, Palaymanan, rice-corn blend for diabetics, and development of MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) are among the topics of the conference.
Dr. Marco Wopereis, Director General of the World Vegetable Center, will speak on nutritional power of vegetables; Dr. Leila S. Africa of Human Ecology-Institute of Human Nutrition and Food will present outcomes of Promoting Nutrition-Sensitive School Gardens and Feeding Programs through the School-Plus-Home-Gardens Project (in Laguna).
Dr. Wei Fang, director of the Center of Excellence for Controlled Environment Agriculture and Professor of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering of the National Taiwan University, will discuss how plant factories in Taiwan to promote food and nutrition security in an urban setting.
Other speakers are International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Country Director Emily Monville (sustaining and scaling-up nutrition-sensitive agriculture); Rizal G. Corales, program lead, Integrated Rice-based Agribiosystems of Philrice, (Palayamanan as a strategy to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture); and Dr. Mallikarjuna Swamy, Healthier Rice Breeding Group of the International Rice Research Institute (nutritional security through development of healthier rice).
It will be held at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Tagaytay City. (Growth Publishing for SEARCA) End

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEARCA establishes capability building courses for agricultural entrepreneurs to help boost productivity in mango, abaca, cacao, herbal medicine
September 28, 2018

Government research partner SEARCA has established capability building courses for trainers and agricultural entrepreneurs as part of helping boost productivity in mango, abaca, cacao, and herbal-medicinal products.

The training for trainers and farmer-entrepreneurs will beef up skills of Filipino farmers-businessmen in ensuring their farms thrive as profit-making businesses, rather than mere source of sustenance.

The course is called “Financial Viability and Profitability Analysis of New Technologies and Enterprises under the High Value Crops Development Program.”

SEARCA also supported the publication of an investment guide of the Bureau of Agricultural Research-Department of Agriculture (BAR-DA) with the same title. BAR launched the investment guide during its Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Forum last August 30.

“We believe that given the right opportunities, training, and innovations, farmers and fishers can be ‘agripreneurs’,” DA-BAR Executive Director Nicomedes Eleazar said.

Participants in these courses will also be trainors of agricultural entrepreneurs or support them on how to plan financial viability for businesses after training themselves first.

A higher education center formed part of ASEAN bonds, SEARCA’s major thrust is to support training of farm technologists and farm entrepreneurs as aid in agricultural progress toward ASEAN Economic Community.

It is also pushing for harmonization of skills standards of farm technicians in ASEAN through a competency certification in partnership with institutions as TESDA (Technology Education & Skills Development Authority).

It is hoped such programs will raise farm production and export of the Philippines while ensuring the future generation are lured into becoming farmers and agriculture businessmen.

Those that already completed the program include agriculture technocrats of Department of Agriculture (DA) and DA- attached agencies staff, state universities and colleges in 16 selected projects funded by DA-BAR, and farm managers.

The topics include subjects studied in Business Management courses– cost and return analysis, partial budget analysis, break-even analysis, and financial cash flow analysis.

SEARCA has supported personnel training for 16 projects of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).

The following are the 16 DA-BAR funded projects:

• Development of Commercial-Scale Belt-Type Dryer with Combination Far-Infrared and Convection Heating for Rapid Drying of Mango Slices
• Conservation, Evaluation, and Commercialization of Batuan (Garcinia binucao) in Region V (Masbate and Sorsogon)
• Lotus R&D for Region 3: Production Technology Generation for Food and Non-Food Products, Aesthetics, and Medicinal Purposes
• Village-level Processing, Technology Development, and Promotion of Katmon (Dillenia philippinensis) Production and Commercialization of Abaca Yarn, Twine, and its Derived Products in Region VIII Areas
• Development and Promotion of Postharvest Equipment for Carrot Processing in BAPTC Commercialization and Marketing of Sweet Potato, Adlay, Soybean & Roselle Products & By-products in Region 10
• Development and Commercialization of Sweet Potato and Potato Products Production and Processing Technologies Development and Commercialization for Organically-Grown Cucumber and Carrots in Bukidnon
• Promotion of Organic Production Technologies for Rice and Muscovado Sugar for Smallholder Farmers and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries
• Piloting Arabica Coffee Rooted Cuttings as Plant Materials in the Highlands Macadamia Conservation, Propagation, and Commercialization in Luzon
• Promotion of Generated Cacao Technologies and Development of New Products towards Improved Livelihood
• Promotion and Commercialization of Soya Nuggets and Soya Chunks Insta Ulam Project Development and Commercialization of Tropical Fruit-based Products (Rimas Ice Cream)
• Product Improvement and Marketing Plan for Dalanghita Nectar
Philippine government-hosted SEARCA (Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture is a regional treaty organization that promotes inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development through graduate education and institutional development, R&D, and knowledge management. It has been a long-time partner of DA-BAR in research, capacity building, and knowledge management projects.
Copies of the investment guide may be availed from the DA-BAR. (Melody Mendoza Aguiba-https://www.manilatimes.net/expert-ph-agri…digital…/491397/Growth Publishing for SEARCA).