by JM Bo, AP Dominguita, & KIM Quilinguing

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap challenged the UP Los Baños (UPLB) community to support government efforts in boosting food production at the opening ceremonies of the UPLB Centennial celebration held on March 2 at the Seniors’ Social Garden.

Yap, the program’s guest speaker, said that the country has to produce twice the food that it is producing now in order to feed the entire population by 2015. He challenged UPLB constituents to be truly “iskolar para sa bayan” and help in food production. He regretted the fact that the Philippines still imports staples from neighboring countries.

“UPLB must be more militant and more aggressive in its research on agriculture and agricultural technology in its next 100 years,” he added. Yap, however, recognized the research contributions of the University as substantial contributions, pointing out alternative technologies made by UPLB in the fields of agriculture, forestry, agro-industry, veterinary medicine, and biotechnology. For farmers, UPLB has a storehouse of knowledge and skills that can increase crop yield and reduce the use of chemical fertilizers in favor of organic fertilizers. It has also created crop and horticultural varieties that are more resistant to pests and inclement environmental conditions.

But these have to be disseminated and applied more widely. Yap thus stressed the importance of training and extension work. During an earlier program, Dr. Domingo Angeles, College of Agriculture (CA) dean, said that the technologies and the plant varieties generated by the College will be “reinvested” in the farmers by way of technology transfer.

With an assurance that the constituent university will work toward these goals, Yap committed himself to lobbying for the allocation of more funds to UPLB. He then reported that the Gloria Arroyo administration has increased the budget for agriculture by 67 percent—the highest increase in history, Yap said. For his part, Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco vowed continued support of agriculture by the University.

President Emerlinda Roman praised UPLB for its tradition of excellence and service to the country and stressed its role in rural development and expertise in emerging fields like biotechnology, microbiology, and alternative fuels. She then urged the University to build character among students and nurture in them a sense of country and service.

The ceremonies formally opened the AgriFair and Exhibits and the Flower and Garden Show where CA units, government and R&D institutions, and private groups displayed new technologies and products. A rodeo also took place later in the week.

Before the opening ceremonies, an early morning program was held at the Foundation Site Marker at the CA. Chancellor Velasco and Dean Angeles urged the UPLB community to look back at history and find inspiration to do better in its tasks ahead. UPLB started as the College of Agriculture, which was one of the first UP units to be established when it was created by the Board of Regents on March 6, 1909.

Chancellor Velasco congratulated the CA for maintaining the standards of excellence and its relevance to society. He expressed optimism that the College will keep up the good work despite increasingly higher expectations and challenges that lie ahead. The chancellor encouraged everyone to continue living the dreams and aspirations of UPLB’s forefathers for the development of agriculture in the country.

Remembering the circumstances of the College’s founding, Velasco pointed to the ideal location of the campus, whose proximity to Mt. Makiling and Laguna Lake and the good climate made it the choice campus for agriculture and forestry. The other sites considered were Majayjay in the same province and La Granja on Negros island.

UPLB was the first unit of the University declared to be autonomous when UP was re-organized as a system in 1972. At present, UPLB has nine colleges and two schools: College of Agriculture, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Developmental Communication, College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology, College of Economics and Management, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, College of Human Ecology, College of Public Affairs, College of Veterinary Medicine, School of Environmental Science and Management, and the Graduate School.

From the UP Newsletter