Embracing change: SEARCA at forefront of Agriculture 4.0

“The reality of digitalizing agriculture is won or lost at the farmer level, where applicability and sustainability have to be tested,” a top official of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) said.

SEARCA director Glenn Gregorio said they were “working toward elevating the quality of life of farmers by improving their access to new, sustainable, resilient production technologies and systems and help them integrate with modern postharvest and logistics systems.”

Speaking before hundreds of scientists, researchers, and educators at the 25th Federation of Crop Science Societies of the Philippines (FCSSP) and the 1st Federation of Plant Science Association of the Philippines (FPSAP) Scientific Conference in Davao City, Gregorio cited the importance of using technology to achieve Agriculture 4.0.

He said there was resistance to adopt modern technologies because of the perceived risks associated with them.

FPSAP is composed of the Crop Science Society of the Philippines, the Philippine Seed Industry Association Inc., PhilFruits Association Inc., and the Philippine Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology.

“We have to embrace these changes to actually change the lives of farmers. Let’s give these technologies and changes a chance so that we can have a better chance of changing the current state of our farmers,” Gregorio said.

For his part, FPSAP president

Ryan Tayobong said “advances in plant science through the form of biotechnology or agro-engineering technology could create various impacts in the society and environment and thus the need to incorporate sustainable designs for future generations.”

Gregorio said “plant science and agriculture must be able to cope with how fast new knowledge is generated and technologies change.”

Speaking from more than 30 years of experience as crop scientist and research manager in international and private institutions, Gregorio urged the conference participants to be innovative.

In the next five years, Gregorio said Searca could focus its efforts to facilitate interconnectedness among the academe, industry, and government in order to contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly on quality education; industry, innovation, and infrastructure and partnerships for the SDGs, among others.

Gregorio challenged the participants to begin innovative approaches in transforming the agricultural sector.

“We have to make agriculture attractive and this begins with changing the mindset of farmers from being producers to agripreneurs and in having a holistic approach to the agricultural value chain,” he said.

The conference was jointly organized by FPSAP with the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) and Southern Mindanao Agriculture Aquatic and Resource Research Development Consortium (SMAARRDEC).