Delegates from Murcia, Negros Occidental, participated in the recently concluded 7th International Symposium on Sustainable Development and Green Technology in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
The Murcia delegation was led by Acting Mayor Johnny Reosura, Agriculture Committee Vice-Chair SB Hernan Alintana, Executive Assistant Erwin Apua, OIC-Municipal Agriculturist Dennis Garzon and Agricultural Technologist Ma. Paola Joy Rivera.
Sponsoring the delegation’s trip to Taiwan was the Sustainability Center of Taiwan-based Nanhua University, led by CEO Yao Ming Hong, while Father Yongsing Cui, Vice-President for Administration of the Ming Yuan College in Murcia, facilitated the arrangements, a press release from Murcia said.
Reosura was one of the keynote speakers during the event. He presented the study titled “Produce your own Organic Food: A Best Practice of CPSU Murcia to Support Rural Development”.
Conducted by Joe-an Mae G. Escober, the campus administrator and director for International Affairs of the Central Philippine State University – Murcia Campus, the study was about sustainable agriculture through vermi-composting, producing naturally-made foliar fertilizer and producing naturally-grown oyster mushrooms.
The group also visited various farms and observed new techniques, methods and best practices in modern farming which boosted Taiwan’s agricultural production. Lessons and techniques learned from this experience will be echoed and replicated in Murcia’s agriculture sector, the press release said.
Reosura signed, in behalf of the Municipality of Murcia, a Memorandum of Understanding with Nanhua University, represented by its president Dr. Tsong-Ming Lin, to foster academic cooperation, and to develop friendship, mutual interest and reciprocity between the LGU and the university.
The agreement includes student exchanges, including field trips and volunteering opportunities; university faculty and researchers’ exchanges; identification of methods for academic collaboration, including summer school and visiting lecturers; organization of joint research projects, including conferences and meetings; exchange of information and publications; and other activities mutually agreed upon by the two institutions.
Currently, five scholars from Ming Yuan College in Murcia are enrolled in Nanhua University, through the Negros Occidental Scholarship Program and the Taiwan Experience Education Program.
Under this joint program, scholars from Ming Yuan College enjoy a free six-month course on Master Program of Green Technology for Sustainability in Nanhua University. The university also provides the scholars with free dormitory, plane tickets and a monthly stipend of NT$10,000 (P8,000).
Enrolled under this program are Altheia Kate Yanong Monceda, Jayson Ballena Mirambel, Ma. Niña Ebcas Malunes, Trisia mae Tembrevilla Regala and Jeihwil Love Amar Pana-ongon.
Cheska Barniso Aujero of Minoyan, Murcia finished her master’s degree as a scholar in Nanhua, where she is now employed as a research associate.*