MANILA — Some 22 scholars of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in Laguna on Friday.
The students, who took up agriculture and agriculture-related courses, were the latest DA-BAR scholars to graduate from UPLB, which launched an undergraduate scholarship program in 2012 to extend financial support to students in agriculture-related field.
The program was created to help Bachelor of Science (BS) Agriculture and BS Agricultural Biotechnology students finish their studies. However, it began offering scholarships to students taking agriculture-related courses, such as BS Food Technology and BS Development Communication in 2015.
“This is our way of contributing to the development of the country’s manpower requirements in agriculture and related fields,” the DA-BAR said.
Quoting former agriculture secretary, Dr. William Dar, who formerly headed the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, DA-BAR stated that the Philippines needs more young people to enroll in agriculture and agriculture-related courses since the average age of farmers in the country today is 56 to 60 years old.
To date, the program has supported 95 scholars. From the latest batch of scholars, five students graduated cum laude.
According to the UPLB website, the DA-BAR provides tuition and miscellaneous fees, travel allowance, book allowance, and stipend. The bureau also gives incentives to scholars who graduate with Latin honors. The scholarship funds are being managed by the UPLB Foundation, Inc. (PNA)
