SEARCA News

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Five young professionals advocating for sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation took center stage during the SEARCA-hosted Youth, Agriculture, and the Environment Session of the 3rd Philippine Environment Summit on 27 February 2020 in this city. The session featured by-the-youth and for-the-youth initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture practices, environmental protection, and the circular economy. The speakers were Louise Mabulo, Founder of The Cacao Project and UNEP's Young Champion of the Earth; Cherrys Abrigo, Founder of Sierreza Café; Enzo Pinga, Business Development and Partnerships Head of IISLA Ventures; Rein Hillary Carrascal, Beauty Queen and Ambassador of Hapi… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has awarded a Seed Fund for Research and Development worth US$15,000 to the University of the Philippines Rural High School (UPRHS) for its Youth Program on Agriculture. SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio announced the award at the fund-raising event called "Coming Home: Lemuel Cuento in Concert" held on 26 February 2020 at the D.L. Umali Auditorium of UP Los Baños (UPLB). SEARCA was also a sponsor of the two-hour concert, which was also for the benefit of the UPRHS Youth Program on Agriculture. The concert featured… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), Philippines are planning to further strengthen the enabling environment for agricultural innovation system and entrepreneurship in the country. This was discussed by Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director, and Dr. Nicomedes P. Eleazar, DA-BAR Director, during their meeting on 18 February 2020 at SEARCA's headquarters. Also present at the meeting were SEARCA Deputy Director Joselito G. Florendo; Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma, Program Head for Graduate Education and Institutional Development; Dr. Pedcris M. Orencio, Program Head for Research… Read more

Members of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) initiated by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) are among the top universities around the world according to the Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings of 2020. The list features the 533 best universities from 47 countries. The London Stock Exchange's FTSE Group categorized these countries as "advanced emerging," "secondary emerging" or "frontier." The National Taiwan University (NTU) is the 8th best university, while the University of the Philippines (UP) ranked 70th and Universiti Putra… Read more

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Officials and representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Bodies, the Embassy of Switzerland in Jakarta, ASEAN Member States (AMS) Leaders and Social Forestry Focal Points, development partners, academe and international research organizations, civil society organizations, and the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) partner organizations will gather for the ASFCC Closing Event at the ASEAN Headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia on 25-26 February 2020. The ASFCC, over 10 years of implementation which began in 2011, addressed the interlinked issues of food security, poverty, and climate change, particularly in forested landscapes in Southeast… Read more

Two SEARCA Professorial Chair grantees, Drs. Norhashila Hashim and Teti Estiasih, delivered their papers in separate lecture seminars. Dr. Norhashila Hashim of Universiti Putra Malaysia, presented her paper titled, “Laser-based Imaging for Fruit Quality Detection” during the FRUTIC Symposium on 4 September 2019 at Asia World Expo, Hongkong. She presented the fundamental theory behind the development of laser-based imaging system. As a conclusion in her paper, laser-based imaging technique can be potentially used for quality inspection and sorting/grading process of agricultural products. Likewise, Dr. Teti Estiasih, Professor at Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia, conducted her Professorial Chair Lecture titled, “Developing Local Underutilized… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) will be hosting the Youth, Agriculture, and the Environment Session of the 3rd Philippine Environment Summit on 26-28 February 2020 in Cagayan De Oro City, Philippines. The summit is co-organized by Green Convergence and the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Under the theme, "Paradigm (re)Shift: Heeding Nature," the three-day event will present programs and projects that advance the country's socio-economic development while protecting the environment. In the youth session on February 27th, SEARCA will feature five young professionals who are leading initiatives to advance… Read more

LAGUNA, Philippines – SEARCA is supporting a benefit concert called "Coming Home: Lemuel Cuento in Concert" on 26 February 2020 at the D.L. Umali Auditorium of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). The concert is for the benefit of the Youth Program in Agriculture by the UP Rural High School (UPRHS). It aims to encourage Grade 11 students to pursue careers in agriculture, nutrition, and related fields that would help address issues on hunger and food production in the country. Mr. Lemuel Cuento, an alumnus of UPRHS, is a Filipino Tenor currently based in Munich, Germany. He studied… Read more

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), together with the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), spearheaded the Training Workshop on Modeling Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Agent-based Modeling Applications (GAMA) held 10-14 February 2020 at SEARCA Headquarters, Los Baños, Laguna. GAMA is an open-source platform developed by an international consortium of research teams under the IRD/Sorbonne Université International Research Unit UMMISCO (Unité de Modélisation Mathématique et Informatique de Systèmes Complexes). GAMA integrates a dedicated modeling language and provides a simulation development environment that allow modelers to build spatially-explicit, multi-agent simulations… Read more

NAGOYA, Japan – Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, Director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), was graciously received by Prof. Dr. Seiichi Matsuo, President of Nagoya University (NU), and his cabinet during his visit on 12 February 2020. The visit aimed to further strengthen the SEARCA-Nagoya University collaboration on joint scholarship support, academic and research cooperation, and academe-industry-government interconnectivity implementation to revitalize the agriculture sector in the Southeast Asian region. Through its 11th Five-Year Plan, Dr. Gregorio envisions SEARCA to be a gateway to the future of agricultural development by building an open… Read more