A total of ten participants from seven countries are now participating in the maiden offering of the month-long post graduate course in food and nutrition security for sustainable development in Southeast Asia being held at SEARCA, College, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines.

This project, which is collaborative activity between SEARCA and the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) is composed of six modules on different concepts and principles related to food and nutrition security as it relates to sustainable development in Southeast Asia. Each lecture will be enhanced by actual field visits that will prove practical application and good practices of sustainable agriculture and rural development. This will include visits to Batangas City, Costales Nature Farms, the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute and Bountry Fresh Foods, Inc., in Bulacan.

“This pilot post graduate course is one of SEARCA’s new initiatives under its new strategic plan. We intend this to be an annual staple offering of the Center covering topics that contribute to a broader understanding and practice of Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD) in Southeast Asia, which is SEARCA’s thematic focus in the next five years,” said Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr. SEARCA Director during the course’s opening program.

Internationally renowned biodiversity expert and SEARCA former director, Dr. Percy E. Sajise is leading the said one-month activity, and will be backed-up by seasoned lecturers from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) which is the partner-university of SEARCA in this pilot offering, as well as Kasetsart University (KU) in Bangkok, Thailand and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) based in Silang, Cavite in the Philippines.

“It is envisioned that this post graduate course will be an accredited graduate course among the UC member universities,” expressed Saguiguit.