This paper examines the relatively unexplored role of entomologists in the history of Philippine agriculture. Looking particularly at the life story of Leopoldo Uichanco, revered as the “father of Philippine entomology,” it interrogates twentieth-century state-making in rural agricultural communities. Uichanco participated in national projects that sought to modernize agricultural production in the country. As a government fellow, he was sent to Harvard University for graduate training, becoming one of the first Filipinos to obtain a doctoral degree in entomology in 1922. Serving as dean of the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture for twenty years, Uichanco spearheaded programs aimed at assisting community farmers. These programs would then be institutionalized through the extension office that oversaw the dissemination of agricultural knowledge from laboratories to fields.
By examining Uichanco’s biography, the paper offers insights on the professionalization (and nationalization) of entomology and the growth of rural agriculture. His early training in entomology was in systematics, but it was in the fields of insect ecology and economic entomology that his scientific contributions were widely recognized. Uichanco’s research on the locust problem, crop pests and pest control figured well into government programs in rural communities. In one of his articles on the history of Philippine entomology, Uichanco expressed the need to empower community agriculture as essential component of national development.
