TESDA, SEARCA supports certification of SE Asian farmers

Post date: May 9, 2018 1:55:17 AM

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) have joined forces to strengthen and promote competency certification systems for farmers and agricultural workers in Southeast Asia.

Participants to the “Regional Workshop on Competency Certification for Agricultural Workers in Southeast Asia” at the SEARCA Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna on May 9-10 will be formulating recommendations for the recognition of skills of agri-workers in the region.

TESDA Director General, Sec. Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong said that TESDA and SEARCA will co-host the two-day event.

“The Workshop aims to initiate the recognition of competency certifications for agricultural workers by the organizations/agencies that issue such certifications. It also aims to develop recommendations pertaining to the promotion of skills recognition of agricultural workers,” said Mamondiong.

The TESDA chief said the outcome of the regional workshop will be presented during the “4th High Officials Meeting on Southeast Asia Technical and Vocational Education and Training (SEA-TVET)”, which the government agency will host on September 4-5, 2018.

Among those invited to the workshop are the 11 members of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) composed of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

Resource speakers and panelists for the workshop will come from the International Labor Organization (ILO), ASEAN Qualifications Referencing Framework (AQRF) Committee, SEAMEO VOCTECH, farmers' organization and competent bodies’ from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Agriculture is the backbone of the Southeast Asian economies on which 450 million people rely on for income. Also, in more than half of the ASEAN Member States (AMS), agriculture has been declared a development priority as it plays a vital role in ensuring food and nutrition security as well as in alleviating poverty.

The development of competencies among agricultural workers will lead to increased agricultural productivity, as this will drive the adoption of new measures in farming and technology, and may also contribute to better management of labor mobility in Southeast Asia, Mamondiong added.