LAGUNA, Philippines. Several years of good partnership between the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Studies and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) continue as SEARCA is currently implementing four projects under PCC, namely:
- Building Capacity and Strengthening Partnership for Carabao-Development Program
- Capacity Development under Livestock Research and Biotechnology Research and Development of the Carabao Development Program
- International Service Provider for Local and International Graduate Scholarship Program in Livestock Research and Biotechnology for the Philippine Carabao Center
- Value Chain Analysis (VCA) of Carabao and Carabao-based products in Visayas and Mindanao
The project review was held on 26 January 2017 at SEARCA Headquarters. Project objectives, completed and remaining deliverables, as well as fund utilization status of the abovementioned projects were presented.
Dr. Arnel N. del Barrio, PCC Acting Executive Director stated in his welcome remarks that the projects being implemented by SEARCA were able to help their agency deliver their targets, craft relevant policies, and fund project proposals from different regions across the country amounting to PHP 100 million. For 2017, PCC would like to focus their investments on Carabao-Based Enterprise Development (CBED) as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte aims to make food available and affordable to all Filipinos. As such, PCC continues to align their goals with the Department of Agriculture, which targets to increase the income of the agricultural sector workforce especially the farmers.
PCC delegates were led by Dr. del Barrio; Dr. Liza G. Battad, Chief, Planning and Information Management Division; Dr. Anabelle S. Sarabia, Chief, Research and Development Division; and Dr. Caro B. Salces, Regional Director of PCC at Ubay Stock Farm, Bohol. Other PCC staff include Ms. Rowena Bumanlag, Information Officer III/Creative Writing Specialist; Mr. Alvin David, Planning Assistant II; and Mr. Zadieshar Sanchez, Administrative Officer V.
The consultants present during the event include Dr. Serafin Talisayon, Team Leader and KM Policy and Planning Specialist; Dr. Alexander G. Flor, KM Specialist; and Mr. Jesus Lapitan, Technical Consultant.