SEARCA Director, Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio (left) and Director of the ISAAA Southeast Asia Center and Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, Dr. Rhodora Romero-Aldemita (right) renew SEARCA’s long-standing partnership with ISAAA through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Fully committed to creating an enabling environment that will unleash the potential of biotechnology for agricultural development, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) last 13 April 2021.
“We 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 innovations,” SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio says. “It is our hope that together, we can successfully ATTAIN BETTER, BIGGER, and SMARTER strides in agri-biotech for our farmers and farming families,” Dr. Gregorio adds.
In early 2000, SEARCA and ISAAA started working together to actively reach out to various stakeholders from different sectors in the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region to deliver credible, science-based information on agri-biotechnology through the SEARCA Biotechnology Information Center.
“For more than two decades, SEARCA and ISAAA have been partners in promoting agri-biotech through information-sharing, research, and capacity-building not only in the Philippines but also in Southeast Asia. As ISAAA expands to other aspects of biosciences, we look forward to more fruitful collaborations with SEARCA,” says Dr. Rhodora Romero-Aldemita, Director of the ISAAA Southeast Asia Center and Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology.
As part of its 11th Five-Year Plan, SEARCA is establishing the Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources (AFNR) Knowledge Platform. This initiative banks on the experience of SEARCA’s information centers in knowledge sharing and advocating for agricultural biotechnology, and expanding its coverage to include important issues such as climate change and food and nutrition security, among others.
The AFNR Knowledge Platform is under the Research and Thought Leadership Department, the center’s arm that conducts relevant deep research in agricultural and rural development to produce knowledge and contribute to policies and programs that create transformational innovations at the local, national, and regional levels.
The MOU signing was witnessed by selected officials and staff from SEARCA and ISAAA.