SEARCA continues to provide opportunities for the capacity building of Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs) with three delegates attending the Training-Workshop on Sustainability Assessment in Agricultural Production and Food Processing from 15-25 May 2022, at Krabi, Thailand.
The training, organized by Kasetsart University (KU) in Thailand and L’ Institut Agro of France, is designed to equip the participants with the capacity for sustainability assessment and to build their skills in data collection, survey, observation, investigation, and interview. The participants are placed in a position to actively assess sustainability in agricultural production. The training workshop is also a part of KU’s ARE-TALENT program which aims at providing students and professionals with the capacity of understanding the concept of sustainable agricultural production and food processing. Twenty-two (22) participants are currently attending the training from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and France. They are guided by three faculty members from KU and two from L’ Institut Agro of France.
LevelUPHEI AFAR grantees (Front L-R) Reymond Denver Q. Buenaseda from the University of the Philippines Los Baños; Ms. Crislin B. Cruz from Visayas State University (2nd row-M) Ms. Ella Joy A. Ponce from Central Luzon State University
The LevelUPHEI AFAR grantees joining the training workshop are Reymond Denver Q. Buenaseda from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Ms. Crislin B. Cruz from Visayas State University, and Ms. Ella Joy A. Ponce from Central Luzon State University. A project with the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Leveling-Up Philippine Higher Education Institutions in Agriculture, Fisheries, and Natural Resources or LevelUPHEI-AFAR aims to upgrade the institutional capacities of the State Universities and Colleges – Association of Colleges of Agriculture in the Philippines, Inc. (SUC-ACAP, Inc.) and its 75 members. Through the LevelUPHEI AFAR project, SUC-ACAP members may participate in activities organized by the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) and its member universities.
Didier Pillot from L’ Institut Agro of France as one of the Resource Speakers during the training.
KU, the co-organizer of the training workshop, is a founding member of the UC while the L’ Institut Agro of France has been a project partner of the UC for its ERASMUS+ CBHE funded project on Joint Master's Degree in Food Security and Climate Change (MS FSCC). The ongoing training workshop is also an offshoot of the MSFSCC project as Sustainability Assessment in Agricultural Production and Food Processing is one of the compulsory courses of the MSFSCC program referred to as the Summer School.
Besides the LevelUPHEI AFAR grantees, the UC invited Mr. Danniary Ismail Faronny from Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Nur Syamimi Binti Yaakub, and Nur Amelia Syakira Binti Abdul Aziz both from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to join the training-workshop through its Student Travel Grant for Courses. DAAD-SEARCA scholars Arjay A. Gerance and M Royan are also in attendance during the training-workshop. They are currently taking their MS in Applied Economics for Agriculture and Environment at KU.