SEARCA News

BALI, Indonesia – SEARCA along with the other implementing partners of the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) Program Phase III participated in the Planning Meeting for 2018 in Bali, Indonesia on 12-14 November 2017. Switzerland was conferred the status of ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner during the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting on 24 July 2016, and as such, will report updates about the ASFCC twice a year to the ASEAN Secretariat… Read more

AN GIANG, Vietnam- Researchers under the SEARCA Seed Fund for Research and Training (SFRT) Program and from the Agro-ecology Learning Alliance in Southeast Asia (ALiSEA) gathered in An Giang University in Vietnam on 6-7 November 2017 for a forum on Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in the Mekong Sub-Region towards Food Security… Read more

PEKING UNIVERSITY, Beijing. The coordinating institution and implementing partners of the project titled "Rural Regional Transformation: Pathways, Policy Sequencing, and Development Outcomes in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam" gathered together at Peking University on 3-6 November 2017 for the project kick-off meeting and project methodology training workshop… Read more

BANGKOK, Thailand. To introduce and capacitate key project partners with the use of rapid value chain assessment, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), in cooperation with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), conducted the Training Workshop on Rapid Value Chain Assessment back-to-back with the Focal Points and Researchers Meeting on 31 October to 3 November 2017 at Centara Watergate Pavillion Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand… Read more

NAY PYI TAW, MYANMAR – Dr. Tin Htut, Permanent Secretary of Myanmar's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MoALI), lauded the efforts of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in helping build the capacities of faculty members and researchers of various higher education institutions (HEIs) in Myanmar as well as MoALI staff. … Read more

SEARCA co-sponsored the 2nd Internationalization of Graduate Education for Agricultural and Rural Development (IGEARD) International Conference organized by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Graduate School on 19-20 October 2017 at Acacia Hotel, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Philippines… Read more

A hand-over ceremony to award two new Joint UPM-SEARCA Scholarship Grants was administered by Prof. Datin Paduka Dr. Aini Ideris, UPM Vice Chancellor, and Dr. Maria Cristeta Cuaresma, Program Head for Graduate Education and Institutional Development of SEARCA, on 27 October 2017 in Selangor, Malaysia. The new UPM-SEARCA scholarship recipients are Ms. Arissara Supawong of Thailand and Ms. Nuraizat Abidin of Brunei Darussalam… Read more

SEARCA awarded a travel grant to Clarissa Ruzol, Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Forestry and Forest Governance (DSFFG), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) to present her paper titled "Patterns leading to sustainability: the evolution of social networks in successful community-based forest management in the Philippines." This paper was one of the outputs of the project funded by SEARCA and the ASEAN Working Group on Social Forestry (AWG-SF) implemented by the UPLB School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) in 2016. In behalf of the paper’s main author Dr. Rico Ancog of UPLB SESAM, co-authors Ayesha Sarapuddin… Read more

MUÑOZ, PHILIPPINES – Senator Cynthia A. Villar pushed for more training of smallholder farmers in agribusiness and entrepreneurship in her keynote speech at an international conference on carabao-based enterprise development here. Represented by her Chief-of-Staff Atty. Rheagee Tamaña, Sen. Villar, who chairs the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Food, Agrarian Reform, Environment and Natural Resources, also stressed the need to remove barriers to their success through financial literacy and mechanization drive, among others. Legislative reforms pursued by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food under her leadership include RA 10848 or the Act Extending the Period of Implementation of the… Read more

SEARCA, represented by Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma, Program Head for Graduate Education and Institutional Development (GEID), and Dr. Maria Monina Cecilia Villena, Special Projects Coordinator of the Biotechnology Information Center (BIC), joined the 2017 World Food Day Colloquium and FSC Planning Workshop on 19-20 October 2017 in Stuttgart, Germany… Read more