Digital Extension Coming Up! Actually, It’s Already Here At SEARCA

In the above image, you may not see it, but I see the magic words Digital Extension. Filipino. Director of Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture, SEARCA, Glenn B Gregorio is a Filipino; with this SEARCA SOLVE webinar series, the Philippines is finally launching an Internet-based seminar series in farming and gardening, this one on containerized home gardening and modular farming. The ATI, IRRI, PhilRice, and UP Los Baños each is capable of offering such, but have not done so – it takes an innovative leader like Mr Gregorio to do it!

The invitation is this:

Join us at the second SEARCA SOLVE Webinar on 06 May 2020, Wednesday, 10 AM Philippine time (GMT +08 00) via
Facebook http://fb.com/seameo.searca
Zoom: https://bit.ly/solvewebinar.

2^nd. Webinar I never associated with SEARCA – I never associated it with UP Los Baños either, or DA. SEARCA was just a graduate school in Southeast Asia, high standards, but that was all.

Mr Gregorio surprises me as a modernizer, a dedicated knowledge pusher; here, with topics such as containerized gardening and modular farming. Really, this is helping SOLVE Food Insecurity In The Time Of Covid-19 Pandemic.

So, SEARCA has become the digital center of agricultural knowledge in the Philippines, also Southeast Asia. And I never imagined it to be!

On 17 May 2019, less than 3 months before he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie, in Part 2 of his column titled "SCUs And Unifying R&D Efforts" (16 May 2019, The Manila Times, manilatimes.net), Manong Willie reiterated his wish that in state colleges & universities, SCUs, R&D efforts "must also be complemented with stronger extension programs, so smallholder farmers and fisherfolk would benefit from (mature) technologies immediately. And I mean, immediately!”

So, for almost 1 year, I have been at a loss how the SCUs can rise to the national challenge of some “stronger extension programs” for farmers and fishers. Here comes the unexpected: SEARCA coming up with a webinar series on agriculture in general. Problem SOLVED!

SOLVE is the acronym for SEARCA Online Learning & Virtual Engagements. This is “a webinar series highlighting actions on agriculture and rural development.”

I say the SEARCA Webinar Series is ingenious in 3 ways:

(1)  Expertise. You are not going to present in a webinar if you don’t know your subject matter. To lecture in gardening, you must be a gardener yourself; your credibility, or lack of it, will show if you attempt a webinar in modular farming.

(2) Mastery of computer apps. You have to master your computer apps: PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Paint etc).

(3) No expense! Except a WiFi connection.

The SEARCA webinar is different from the trainings offered by the Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture; different from those by the Technical Education & Skills Authority; by PhilRice; and by IRRI. The SEARCA webinar is based on actual experience, not theory. It is your introduction to the field; if you want to know more, send your email for further learning. The best is yet to come!@517