“Let’s have our confidence in Soybeans” DOST-PCAARRD representative said in an encouraging voice. An inception meeting was conducted on October 18, 2019 at the New Boardroom to lay the boards of the Soybeans Project as it is the pioneering collaboration with the Agency and SDSSU.”

Representatives from DOST-PCAARRD headed by Mr. Rolando S. Corpuz arrived at the New Boardroom of SDSSU-Main Campus for the Inception meeting. Representatives from LGU Agriculture offices from Tandag City and municipalities of Tago and San Miguel also were present on the inception meeting. Tandag City, Tago, and San Miguel were the project sites of the research project. AS the OIC of the President of the University, Mr. Nemesio Loayon opened the meeting with a warm welcome, followed by introduction of the participants and their positions. 

Mr. Elmer E. Enicola the Program leader of “Improvement of Soybeans (Glycine max [L.]. Merr.) for better Nutrition, Higher Income, and Enhanced Soil Health” under the DOST-PCAARRD presented the overview of the project. He encouraged the people present to have confidence in Soybeans. He also discussed the current status of Filipinos relating to Soybeans, problems such as the low consumption of Soybeans and the preference of Filipinos for imported Soybeans. He also expressed his desire to make the Surigao del Sur’s Soybean to improve into a value chain from just being a supply chain. He mentioned that the main problem is that the farmers themselves does not consume their produce and sold all of it in the buyers not even leaving seeds for planting.  Though similar in many aspects, he differentiated the role of Department of Agriculture and the DOST-PCAARRD in the project. Lastly, he mentioned his desire that many more people to plant this crop and hoped for a higher income through this.

Then the project leader of SDSSU, Ma’am Jocelyn B. Panduyos presented the project 5: Improvement of Soybean in Surigao del Sur Through Enhanced Value Chains, Sustainable Seed Sector, and Better Varieties Under Different Cropping System”.  The project has 2 components: Ma’am Jocelyn led the component 1 while Mr. Achilles Belarmino focuses on component 2. She presented the beneficiaries and expected output of the study. Mr. Enicola was active in supporting every step of the plan.

PCAARRD Grants-in-Aid Guidelines was then presented. Mr. Rolando S. Corpuz, the Senior SRS of CRD-PCAARRD presented the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Report Requirements while Mr. Ireneo B. Palma, SRS I of CRD-PCAARRD presented the “Fund Release and Financial Reporting”. The complications about the state of the project in Surigao del Sur was tackled. The fund for the project was 5 months delay that caused the slowing down of the progress of the project especially the component 1 in the area. The PCAARRD representative applauded the SDSSU team for the progress even with the lack of funds. Mr. Corpuz mentioned that the any teams could request for extension however, additional budget could not be given. Ma’am Leorelie Kim Dahan then had a discussion with the PCAARRD representatives. This is the first externally funded research project in SDSSU funded by DOST; some matters specially to relating budget was discussed. The group exchanged ideas about the expected output of the project. In the afternoon, the attendees had a tour of the Soybean field in SDSSU-San Miguel were the component 2 of the project was cantered.