Jesrael Medrano and Kristine Villanueva, both fourth year Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Social Studies (BSEd SocSci), together with Mr. Darin Jan C. Tindowen, Research Associate and Faculty of the School of Education, Arts and Sciences (SEAS), published their research in the Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (APJMR), an international refereed journal, Volume 4, Number 5, Series of 2016.

The research entitled Rice Combine Harvester: Its Effects to the Livelihood of Rice Field Tenants in a Second Class Municipality aimed to determine the effects of rice combine harvesters to the livelihood of rice field tenants in Amulung, Cagayan since it is already dominating the rice fields in the community during harvesting seasons, thus replacing the conventional system of harvesting using human labor and sickles.

Using purposive sampling through site selection and networking approach, 25 rice field tenants were selected as participants of the study through “in-depth conversation” and “guided interview.”

The results of the study revealed that rice combine harvesters cause unemployment and migration among the participants and their sense of camaraderie and solidarity is declining. As a result, the participants sought alternative activities from which they can be paid off. Also, they engage themselves in livestock and poultry production, and even in informal sector economy just to cope with the prevalence of the said agricultural machine.

In an interview, Mr. Tindowen, who also served as the research adviser of the students, said that the publication of the SEAS research is considered as the first publication in an international peer reviewed journal among SEAS researches. He expressed hope that many articles and student researches from the department will be published in international refereed journals especially those journals indexed under Thomson Reuters and Elsevier.

The researchers with their adviser and
SEAS Dean Therese May G. Alejandrino 

APJMR is also a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) accredited research journal published by the Lyceum of the Philippines University – Batangas City Campus.