Conference on Asean food security

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – A conference on food security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region will be held here on May 28-29. 

To be sponsored by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the workshop will be attended by academics and scientists from Southeast Asia. 

SEARCA, which is hosted by the Philippine government in the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), is one of the 21 regional centers of SEAMEO, an intergovernment treaty organization founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science, and culture.           

The conference participants are mostly officers of SEARCA alumni associations organized in the SEAMEO member countries. 

Since 1968-69, SEARCA has been implementing a scholarship program to enable nationals of SEAMEO countries to pursue their doctoral (PhD) and master’s degrees in agriculture and related fields in prestigious tertiary institutions in Southeast Asia, among them UPLB. 

The scholarship program has already produced 1,255 PhD and MS degree holders from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

The SEARCA Alumni Associations Regional Consultative Workshop will focus on the theme “Operation One ASEAN: Towards Food Security in 2020”. 

The workshop will revolve around the keynote paper titled “Championing Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development towards Food Security in Southeast Asia” to be expounded by SEARCA director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. 

Two related plenary papers will also be presented by Dr. Cecilio R. Arboleda, UPLB Foundation Inc. executive director; and Dr. Dinah Pura T. Depositario of the UPLB College of Economics and Management. 

The sessions will cover current country initiatives on food security in Southeast Asia; the ways by which the SEARCA alumni associations can contribute toward the realization of the dream for a “One ASEAN Community” toward food security in 2020; and how the SEARCA alumni associations can collaborate with the Center in its food security programs. 

During the workshop, the participants will also elect the officers of the Regional SEARCA Alumni Association.