Department of Agriculture (DA) senior undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban and Kyungpook National University (KNU) president Dr. Won-hwa Hong renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on scientific and technical cooperation on 24 April 2023 in Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
Signed in the presence of Philippine President and Acting Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the MOU signing is in support of DA’s goal of professionalizing human resources through the agriculture career system, education, and training.
Under the renewed MOU, the DA, through the coordination of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and KNU of the Republic of Korea will pursue and organize professional education and staff development programs, through training courses, symposia, and conferences on various research for development and extension areas.
The ceremonial MOU signing was witnessed by DA-BAR OIC-director Joell H. Lales and DA-ATI director Remelyn R. Recoter, represented by division chief Editha S. Vinuya, and Daegu Gyeongbuk International Development Cooperation Center director Hwa-seok Hwang. DA assistant secretary for Operations Arnel V. de Mesa and agriculture attaché and head of the Philippine Agriculture Office, Philippine Embassy, Seoul, Korea, Maria Alilia G. Maghirang also attended the MOU signing.
Following the renewal of the MOU, DA-BAR, together with DA-ATI and DA-Project Development Services (DA-PDS) met with the KNU representatives on 25 April 2023.
According to KNU professor Hwang, the meeting is a good venue to further discuss the MOU because all involved offices are present. While DA-BAR OIC-director Lales said that regular government employees should take advantage of the program, given that it provides internship programs, and Master’s and Doctorate scholarships.
“We assure that the pilot testing of the program implementation will proceed in 2024. We (DA-BAR and DA-ATI) both allocated a budget to support [at least] 10 slots for the internship, 5 each in 2024. This should increase in the succeeding years,” said OIC-director Lales.
DA-BAR and DA-ATI agreed to further discuss the crafting of implementation guidelines, with the guidance and support of the DA-PDS. In addition to the internship, they will also craft a joint proposal to access external funding to accommodate more scholars for the MS & PhD programs.