Wednesday, October 15, 2008 HEIs told to initiate moves to lure more agri professionals By Jane Cadalig
HIGHER educational institutions (HEIs) in the country today should initiate moves to get more of the younger generation enrolled in a profession which would continue to feed the country's people, yet address the growing concern on climate change.
Commissioner William Medrano of the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) said universities should make agriculture programs among their priority course offerings simultaneous with the focus given on courses highly in-demand overseas.
Medrano called on the country's 110 state universities and colleges (SUCs) to include agriculture programs among their priority course offerings, not only to get more professionals who would be able to balance the work on ensuring food security, yet preserving the environment.
The commissioner, who spoke before the Third National Biennial Convention of scholars of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Resources and Research Development (PCARRD) at the Benguet State University on Tuesday, said a "radical change" of the paradigm for agriculture and natural resources must be initiated.
He said agriculture should not merely focus on food production, but must look and address the costs which food security brings to the environment.
"While modern agricultural practices have been incredibly successful in boosting the yield of many staple food crop, the benefits come at a cost. Our agricultural systems have contributed to the human-induced climate change, and in turn, is now threatening agricultural productivity," Medrano said.
He said these concerns could be addressed by combining local and traditional knowledge with formal farming knowledge.
"I call on various education institutions, especially the SUCs to design and repackage their agricultural programs to be more attuned to the local needs and global challenges and to make it more interesting for our young students to study," he said.
He added while the Philippines is mainly an agricultural state, the country's agriculture sector "is in a crisis."
"Less and less of our young people are interested to study agriculture and our farmers have been complaining of less or too much rainfall and not much appropriate government support," he said.
Dr. Lauro Tacbas, president of the Philippine Association of SUCs said enrollment in the Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry and Veterinary Medicine courses have been dwindling in the past years.
After its peak in the school year 2001-2002, enrollment in these programs noted a continuous decline in the succeeding years.
From an enrolment of more than 94,000 in 2001-2002, enrolment went down to 63,000 for school year 2005-2006, according to Tacbas.
Government, through the Ched, has allotted P1 billion for the scholarship and loan grants to students who opt to enroll in agricultural courses, as among the strategies to lure more young people to enter the profession.
