Scholarships for Upland Agriculture and Food Security

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IDRC-SEARCA scholar garners 3rd best poster award in international confab

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Last Updated on Thursday, 26 February 2015 14:06 Written by Eriza C. Asilo Wednesday, 04 February 2015 11:34

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Mr. Var Sophal bested nine others, when he bagged the 3rd best poster award at the 1st International Conference on Asian Highland Natural Resources Management (AsiaHiLand) and 2nd IDRC-SEARCA Upland Fellowship Plus Conference held on 7-9 January 2015 at The Empress Convention Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Mr. Sophal is a scholar under the Southeast Asian Upland Agriculture Fellowship, a project under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, and is taking his Master of Science degree in Agronomy at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He presented a paper based on his thesis research entitled “Evaluation of seed quality of some upland rice farmers in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia.”

Through his research, Mr. Sophal, an assistant lecturer at the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia, hopes "to provide farmers technology-based production options that could potentially improve their current yield and income levels."

Organized by the Faculty of Agriculture of Chiang Mai University, the three-day international conference was attended by over 150 participants from 16 countries and was co-sponsored by SEARCA, IDRC, the University of Hohenheim, and the Thai Royal Project Foundation.

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SEARCA conducts orientation program for new IDRC scholars

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Last Updated on Thursday, 26 February 2015 14:15 Written by Eriza C. Asilo Friday, 03 October 2014 17:00

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Five new scholars funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada attended the first semester orientation on 4 September 2014 held at the SEARCA headquarters.

A semestral activity of the Graduate Education and Institutional Development Department (GEIDD), the orientation is a venue for new scholars to be familiar with the policies and guidelines on the administration and management of the IDRC-SEARCA scholarship.

Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma, Program Head of GEIDD, facilitated the orientation. Following the orientation is an open forum that provided the opportunity for new scholars to raise their concerns regarding their scholarship. Scholars were also informed of the upcoming IDRC-SEARCA fellowship and conference, an annual event unique to the IDRC project.

The five new IDRC scholars are from the second cohort of scholarships under the IDRC-SEARCA Southeast Asian Upland Agriculture Fellowship Project and "is awarded to qualified nationals of Lao PDR and Myanmar to enable them to pursue 2-year Master’s Degree courses in fields related to agriculture and food security in the uplands of Southeast Asia starting Academic Year 2014-2015."

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IDRC Senior Program Specialist Visits SEARCA

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Last Updated on Thursday, 26 February 2015 14:15 Written by Eriza C. Asilo Friday, 03 October 2014 09:06

Dr. Annie Wesley, Senior Program Specialist of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada visited SEARCA in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines on 03 September 2014 to meet with the IDRC-SEARCA Scholars in UPLB. The meeting became a venue for Dr. Wesley to know more about the scholars' research projects.

During the meeting, Dr. Wesley stressed that the researches should ultimately focus on promoting food security in their respective communities. Dr. Wesley also emphasized the importance of maintaining an open dialogue with SEARCA for the timely resolution of their concerns.

Fifteen scholars from UPLB attended the said meeting. Also present is Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma, SEARCA's Program Head for Graduate Education and Institutional Development (GEID).