COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – Another student makes it to the Asian Tour Program for agriculture students.

Mark Angelo P. Esteban, a third year BS Agriculture major in animal science student, is slated to leave for Thailand as official delegate to the 2012 Asian Association of Agricultural Colleges and Universities  (AAACU) Study Tour Program scheduled July 8-21 at the Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus in Thailand.

As participant, Esteban will have a two-week agricultural training experience through lectures, student presentations and discussions, visits to laboratories, field sites, and industries, and cultural tours to areas of interest at the Ayutthaya World Heritage Site.

The participants will present their respective country’s agricultural practices during the sharing session on the second day of the tour. They will also experience a short home-stay program at an agricultural area to acquaint them with a typical Thai agricultural community.

Esteban has garnered a general weighted average of 1.73 within his stay at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and at MMSU where he is a transferee. AAACU considers the academic performance of participants to the tour.

Last year, Alecsis G. Villarin, then in third year, joined 13 others from universities throughout Asia in the study tour in Malaysia particularly at the University Putra Malaysia. The program enhances students’ understanding of tropical agricultural technologies and management practices of the country to be visited which they can share with their fellow students here in the Philippines.

The University of the Philippines Los Baños hosted the first study tour in August 2010.

Established in 1972, AAACU is a network of agricultural colleges and universities in Asia with the main mission of improving human welfare through agriculture, education, research, and extension. It has 48 regular and four affiliate members, which are agricultural institutions and research agencies in Bangladesh, Guam, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.