Friday, January 11, 2008 Benguet U to open online course for organic agriculture By Jane Cadalig
THE Benguet State University (BSU) would be opening an online course for organic agriculture, a move to further extend the university’s services to communities.
BSU president Rogelio Colting said the institution has tied up with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) for the opening of an Internet-based program for agro-ecology, with organic agriculture as one of the focus areas.
Colting said the program will be a three-month course, which is open to all individuals interested to learn the principles of organic farming.
The program will be offered through the global open education program.
Dr. Surya Gunjal, a visiting scientist from Icrisat, said the research institute signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with BSU for the distance education program. He said BSU is one of the 10 universities in Southeast Asia to sign an MOU for agriculture courses.
Gunjal was invited to attend BSU’s 22 Charter Day celebration. He spoke on the global scenario of open and distance agriculture on Wednesday.
Gunjal said there are 40 million enrollees in distance education.
The university’s distance education program for organic agriculture will start in June this year, Colting said.
He said modules for this course are being formulated by BSU already and will also be made available for other countries offering the course, like Thailand and Malaysia.
