Thai Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, also the president of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (Seameo) council, led the groundbreaking of the Southeast Asian AgriMuseum and Learning Center on Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) recently.
The AgriMuseum will rise adjacent to the headquarters of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) on the campus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Now in its 50th year, Searca has been mandated to build the capacities of institutions working in agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia through its core programs on graduate education and institutional development, research and development and knowledge management.
With its Tenth Five-Year Plan (2015 to 2019), Searca is focused on promoting inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (Isard).
Searca is one of the oldest centers of Seameo. The Seameo Council is the highest policy-making body of Seameo, an intergovernmental treaty organization founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science and culture. Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones represents the Philippines in the council, which is composed of the education ministers of the Seameo member-countries.
The first of its kind in the region, the AgriMuseum is envisioned to deepen understanding and appreciation of agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia, the challenges it faces and how such may be addressed. It will highlight the importance of agriculture and, thus, generate renewed interest in it as a field of study and course of livelihood.
The state-of-the-art exhibition space is intended to extend Searca’s work by promoting awareness of agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia, as well as the appreciation of science-based knowledge and innovations in agriculture in an interactive setting.
Teerakiat has expressed his support, in his capacity as Seameo Council president, to establish the AgriMuseum.
Searca was Teerakiat’s first stop in his first visit to the Philippines as Thailand’s education minister and Seameo Council president.
He was received by the Center’s officers and staff and scholars led by Searca Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., who also presented an overview of the Center’s programs and activities under its Tenth Five-Year Plan and its latest accomplishments.
In this message, the top Seameo official commended Searca’s significant work in promoting agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia.
“I am reminded of the late King Bhumibol. His name means ‘the strength of the land’. All his life’s work has been what you have been doing—to promote the strength of the people, the strength of the land, agriculture and environment,” Teerakiat said.
Reiterating that agriculture is the backbone of most of the countries in Southeast Asia, he was pleased to note that Searca has made significant contributions to enhance knowledge on ARD, and to uplift the lives of the people.
Teerakiat also remarked that while some 50-year-old centers may be running down, Searca seems stronger at 50 with all it has accomplished, and its vision for the future.
“I wish all of you the best, and I feel really honored to come here today to learn what you have done,” he said.
Teerakiat also visited Seameo Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology and Seameo Regional Centre for Public Health, Hospital Administration, Environmental and Occupational Health.
He also paid a courtesy call on Secretary Briones, and visited the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños.