CLSU President Dr. Evaristo A. Abella served as keynote speaker during the second day of Lakbay Palay 2024 attended by more than 500 high school and college students from the different schools and state universities and colleges in the region held at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) today, March 21.
Anchored on the theme "Bida ang sama-sama para sa mas masaganang Bagong Pilipinas," Dr. Abella presented the initiatives and innovations of CLSU in providing practical and accessible technologies in the field of agriculture. He also highlighted the one of a kind program of CLSU offered through the Agricultural Science and Technology School (ASTS) where students are taught using an agriculture-based curriculum. With this approach of learning by doing actual farm related activities, the students are able to gain valuable skills and experiences while generating income preparing them to be future agri-preneurs.
“Sa pamamagitan ng aktuwal na karanasan sa bukid o pagsasaka, maaga po nilang natututunan ang kahalagahan ng agrikultura sa ating ekonomiya at bilang kabuhayan sa pamamagitan ng pagiging agripreneur,” said Dr. Abella.
In addition, he also featured different technologies and alumni of the university who are successful in their chosen field as well as those who were employed in different companies here and abroad.
In closing, Dr. Abella said “in CLSU, we have nurtured the culture of excellence in academic and research. But to encourage more youth to be engaged in agriculture will be our way to a sustainable future. With all of our initiatives and efforts, we believe that we can keep agriculture as a way of life.”
The event was graced by PhilRice officials headed by their Executive Director, Dr. John C. De Leon along with the former Executive Director, Dr. Santiago R. Obien, Dr. Kyu Seong Lee, Director, Korea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture (KOPIA), Dir. U-Nichols A. Manalo, Assistant Secretary for Operations, Department of Agriculture along with Ms. Josephine Reyes, Head, BPI-NSQCS and other officials and staff of PhilRice.
