Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Mario G. Montejo and the DOST Executive Committee recently approved the continuation of two projects under the national program on “Enhancing the demand for agriculture, forestry and natural resources (AFNR) graduates through science and technology (S&T)”.
After careful scrutiny of the presentations of the Year 1 accomplishments and Y2 plans of Project 3.1g: “Binnadang among Cordillera Administrative Region state universities and colleges (SUCs) in producing organic highland crops: A strategy to enhance employability of AFNR students and graduates”, and Project 3.1i “Earn-Learn Resource Center Model in promoting entrepreneurship with S&T”, both were given the green light to complete their last six months of implementation.
Currently, the national AFNR-HR program is more than midway into its planned two-year implementation. So far, Components 1 and 2 have been completed. Component 1 is titled “Policy research on the state and future supply of and demand for AFNR graduates” involving 27 SUCs and 95 higher education institutions nationwide, and Component 2 Project (2.1) is titled “Bicol University–led institutional Capability Enhancement Program for AFNR courses in the Bicol Region”.
Overall, there are 40 ongoing projects under the program. Earlier in the year, four projects were approved for Year 2 implementation under Component 2 of the program including: Project 2.2 of the Cavite State University (CvSU), Project 2.4 of the Visayas State University, and Project 2.5 of the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP).
For Component 3, six projects for Year 2 were approved early this year. These projects will be handled by Bicol University, CvSU, USeP, Central Luzon Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium and Cagayan Valley Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (together in one project), Ilocos Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium, and Western Mindanao State University.
A budget of P200 million was approved by DOST for Year 1 and released to PCARRD between June 2008 to February 2010 for use of 71 projects funded under all the components of the AFNR-HR program. The new budget approved for the 16 continuing projects in Year 2 amounts to P 28 million. By the end of 2010, 12 more projects will be completed. The remaining 28 projects will be completed in 2011.