The book “Higher Education in Agriculture: Trends, Prospects, and Policy Directions” is off the press.
Published by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), the book highlights results of the PCAARRD-PIDS project on “Policy Research on the State and Future Supply and Demand for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources (AFNR) Graduates in the Philippines.”
The project is a component of the program “Enhancing the Demand for AFNR Graduates through Science and Technology.”
Responding to the declining trend in the enrollment in AFNR programs and job opportunities for AFNR graduates, the project focuses on the inventory of AFNR human resources and employment, and provides a forecast of the supply and demand for AFNR graduates for the next 10, 15, and 20 years.
Concluding that the declining AFNR enrolment is mainly due to the structural change in the economy, given the decreasing share of agriculture in the country’s output, the project recommends appropriate policies and programs in the higher education system environment.
Such policies and programs, among others, include modernizing agriculture through diversification, agribusiness promotion, and investments in rural and market-related infrastructure. Moreover, the project underscores the importance in the rationalization of AFNR higher education institutions (HEIs), in consideration of the labor market requirements.
Authors of the book are from the University of the Philippines (UP), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), PIDS, and PCAARRD.
PCAARRD writers include Dr. Patricio S. Faylon, Executive Director and Dr. Albert P. Aquino and Dr. Ernesto O. Brown, Director and Assistant Director of the Socio-Economics Research Division (SERD), respectively.
Writers and main editors of the book are Dr. Melvin B. Carlos, Director of the Technology Transfer and Promotion Division, PCAARRD and Dr. Roehlano M. Briones, Senior Research Fellow of PIDS. The book can be downloaded in http://www.dirp4.pids.gov.ph/webportal/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidsbk14-afnr.pdf.