DAMOSA Land, a homegrown developer for sustainable real estate in the South, welcomed to its premier integrated township Agriya the University of the Philippines Professional School for Agriculture and the Environment.

Together with the Anflo Management and Investment Corporation, Damosa Land and the University of the Philippines held a groundbreaking ceremony last April 21, 2023 for the first campus of UP PSAE.

The companies also signed the Deed of Donation declaring the turnover of the 31,800 square-meter property to the UP PSAE which will offer 14 graduate and post-graduate agriculture-focused programs ranging from Agribusiness Management, Agroforestry, Animal Science and many more.

“Today, we are not only groundbreaking for the establishment of this building, but also paving the way for the advancement of agricultural education here in Mindanao,” Cary Lagdameo said.

“Instead of sending our best and brightest students to different parts of the country and the world to study this field, we can now provide opportunities for them here in Mindanao – the food basket of the Philippines,” he added.

The construction of the UP PSAE campus will be finished in 2024. It can accommodate up to 200 students who share the same vision of elevating the agri-business competencies of communities in Mindanao.

“Our vision is to make UP graduate education more accessible — especially here in Mindanao. We aim to contribute to human resource development of not just the universities but also the public and private institutions like the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,” UPLB Chancellor Jose Camacho Jr. said.

Lagdameo said that Damosa Land can better address the challenges of the industry “tapping educational opportunities for empowering homegrown agriculture talent.”

“Together with the UP community and UP-PSAE, we are optimistic that this partnership will allow us to train our agri experts who can then contribute and hone a competent agri sector,” he said.