As his term as Dean of the College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS) comes to an end, Dr. Elpidio M. Agbisit, Jr. presented the College’s accomplishments under his leadership for the last three years last 7 July.

Guided by the basic framework in mind of a Conducive and enabling environment; an Atmosphere of teamwork, service, and professionalism; Further enhance the traditional strength towards excellence in agriculture; and Stakeholder sensitive programs when he assumed office, Dean Agbisit explained that achieving these goals was a mindset for SERVICE which stands for selflessness, engaging, reinvigorating, visionary, innovative, conscientious, and excellence and honor all commitment at CAFS with integrity. Moreover, Dean Agbisit also shared that strengthening the mandate of the College as the premier agricultural education institution is also one of his priorities.

In reaching these goals, Dean Agbisit lauded the men and women of the CAFS team for their unrelentless support. He also recognized the pillars of CAFS, such as former UP president and UPLB Chancellor Emil Q. Javier and National Scientist Dolores A. Ramirez, to name a few, for their wisdom, recommendations, and comments in terms of important facets of CAFS.

Dean Agbisit recalled that initial days in office was focused on consultation with stakeholders in the different units; consolidation and evaluation of existing plans and programs of different academic, research, and specialized institutions; conducting College branding initiatives; and increasing awareness regarding the change of CAFS’ paradigm from mainly production to the inclusion of farm-to-table component. Hence, the slogan “One College, One Family, One Goal”.

The major accomplishments under the Instruction function of the college prior to the COVID-19 pandemic include the following:

• The BOR approval of the Professional Science in Animal Science and the Master in Food Engineering which was endorsed by the PAC to BOR;
• Signing of Memorandum of Understanding with the National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan and National Chiayi University, Taiwan which strengthens the Private-Public Partnership through Industry Practice in Agriculture; and
• The preparation of the Self-Assessment Report for the Asian University Network – Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) accreditation for BS Food Technology and BS Agricultural Biotechnology, and renewal for BS Agriculture.

During the pandemic, course packs were developed in relation to the blended learning. Furthermore, recruitment initiatives were done to entice high school students to take agriculture. Likewise, new programs under instruction were proposed for review and evaluation.

In terms of research, CAFS has completed a total 179 projects from 2018 to present; while 386 projects are still on-going. These research projects amount to P617 Million in terms of grants from different funding agencies. Moreover, a total of 153 projects have been generated under UPLB Foundation, Inc. (UPLBFI) from 2018 to 2020.

The holding of the 2^nd R & D Symposium/Stakeholders consultation in 2018 has led to the development of 12 Research and Development (R&D) Commodity Teams. The different commodity teams formulated 12 roadmaps that are aligned with the national agenda through government research roadmaps.

Lastly, retooling about Futures Thinking was also done as a vital component of Chancellor Jose V. Camacho’s program to future proof UPLB.

Equally important are extension programs of the College that respond to the needs of the farmers and other beneficiaries like the Farmer Scientist Training Program and Quick Response Team of the Agricultural Systems Institute (ASI). From October 2018 to June 2021, CAFS has conducted a total of 346 trainings.

CAFS also contributed to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic response with its battle cry, “One College, One Goal towards a Sustainable Food System.” CAFS instituted plans by clamping the following different program initiatives geared towards adapting, adjusting, and evolving to the new normal: CAFSama Tayo Program for students,  CAFS Pamilya Tayo program for faculty and staff, CAFSama Pa Rin Tayo program for alumni, and CAFS Partnership in Academe, Research, and Extension (PARE) program. The College also have the opportunity to develop and spearhead the future proofing initiatives of UPLB. In line with this, CAFS also conducted various future-proofing initiatives.

Finally, the webinar series program “Rebooting Agriculture under the New Normal” was launched and have five successful seasons. The webinar featured topics on agricultural processing, agripreneurship, urban gardening, and youth champions. These gained overwhelming support from viewers through Zoom and CAFS’ Facebook and YouTube channel.

Watch the recorded presentation through this link: https://youtu.be/iXw_thhN97E

(IMGesmundo)