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The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) is a non-profit organization established by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) in 1966.
SEAMEO is a chartered international organization founded in 1965 is to promote cooperation in education, science, and culture in Southeast Asia. Its highest policymaking body is the SEAMEO Council, which comprises the Ministers of Education of the 11 SEAMEO Member Countries, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
SEAMEO also has Associate Member Countries, namely: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
SEARCA is hosted by the Philippine government on the campus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
The Center derives its juridical personality from the SEAMEO Charter and possesses full capacity to contract; acquire and dispose of immovable and movable property; and institute legal proceedings. Moreover, SEARCA enjoys in the territory of each of the SEAMEO Member Countries such privileges and immunities as are normally accorded United Nations institutions. Representatives of SEAMEO Member States and officials of SEARCA shall similarly enjoy such privileges and immunities in the Philippines as are necessary for the exercise of their functions in connection with SEARCA and SEAMEO.