Revolution Vs Revelation! More Funds & More Freedom To Develop PH Countryside?

“Agri Liberation” is the latest battle cry. Turns out historical & hysterical. I googled “agri liberation images” (note double quotes), and the above images happened right next to each other: How lucky can you get?! Local vs international, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) vs Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. What colorful “combination” – and neither do I agree with!

“Revolution” showing itself next to “Liberation” – Actually, the quarrel has been there at least in the last 60 years when PH activists began agitating for “Land for the Landless” and those with money began agitating for more business inside and outside the Philippines.

If you did not know, PH’s Agrarian Revolution is actually ongoing – slow but ongoing. In any case, land ownership has shown itself to be anathemato production and profit. Because of inefficiencies, ownership liberation limits production of the farmer and, therefore, of the country; and business liberation limits profit to the businessman himself. What other inefficiencies do the revolutionaries want?!

In the latest development, Madelaine B Miraflor says, “At Least 7 Industry Groups Call For Agri Liberalization[1]” (25 May 2021, Manila Bulletin). The 7 groups are “led” (verb noted) by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) and Cold Chain Association of the Philippines (CCAP). AmCham and CCAP are saying that this is for PH Agriculture to “become more open to foreign trade and investments to help keep food affordable and safe to all Filipinos” and this “will also strengthen the agriculture sector’s capability of creating jobs for the rural population.”

Not quite. If you ask me, it is not the lack of foreign trade and investments that has made food unaffordable and unsafe in the Philippines – it is the supply of unscrupulous big & small businessmen already existing who victimize their own countrymen in these difficult times.

I see that this is all because the Department of Agriculture (DA), led by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, has called for controlled entry of food imports. 

More than the above, I see that “Agri Liberalization” is targeted toward food only and, of course, the food industry stands to largely benefit.

In a development I see must be related, Belen Natividad says “CAR, Ilocos Ready To Implement Mandanas Ruling[2]” (24 May 2021, Ikot.ph). Much earlier, Anna Leah E Gonzales says, “LGUs Must Prepare For New Responsibilities – Dominguez[3]” (06 October 2020, Manila Times). Ms Anna says that once implemented, the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court will result in “higher internal revenue allotment (IRA) (shares) of local government units (LGUs) beginning in 2022.”

Now then, I see that, on one hand the businessmen, and on the other hand the LGUs with larger IRAs, must first of all consider and cooperate with the “OneDA” approach for Philippine Agriculture already being implemented – if they don’t know that, let them google! They cannot insist on their own views without those of others, especially the ones in government authority. Ladies & gentlemen, the Philippines is our country too!@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2021/05/25/at-least-7-industry-groups-call-for-agri-liberalization/?fbclid=IwAR111XXv2vS-wmkPog2PJKhUN2cTdRRhr0axmD0_dEXEALvZXBYyPlkYi5Q

[2]https://www.ikot.ph/car-ilocos-ready-to-implement-mandanas-ruling/?fbclid=IwAR2PVxgXDqYd80-06Z1Ll8jEDzwgeIwbMr0faxJcwbLvTh3CHIrYS1Z-WhU

[3]https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/10/06/business/business-top/lgus-must-prepare-for-new-responsibilities-e28095-dominguez/776898

He Went After Quantity Of Rice – We Go After Quality Of Life For All!

Chinese scientist Yuan Longping is dead! Long live the hybrid rice scientist who showed the world Man could change Mother Nature if he followed her dictates!

Mr Yuan is the Father of Hybrid Rice, and for this scientific breakthrough, he won the World Food Prize in 2004. Huizhong Wu says, “China's Yuan Longping Dies; Rice Research Helped Feed World[1]” (23 May 2021, Phys.org):

It was in the 1970s when Yuan achieved the breakthroughs that would make him a household name. He developed a hybrid strain of rice that recorded an annual yield 20% higher than existing varieties – meaning it could feed an extra 70 million people a year, according to Xinhua.

(Images above: “Third-Generation Hybrid Rice Achieves High Yields In China[2],” ANN, 22 October 2019, Global Times;“Quality of Life for All” image[3] from Epr.eu)

Mr Huizhong says:
Yuan spent his life researching rice and was a household name in China, known by the nickname “Father of Hybrid Rice.” Worldwide, a fifth of all rice now comes from species created by hybrid rice following Yuan’s breakthrough discoveries, according to the website of the World Food Prize, which he won in 2004.

Mr Yuan’s hybrid rice yielding 20% more than the best rice varieties then in China – and this helped transform China from “food deficiency to food security” within 3 decades. After his World Food Prize, “Yuan and his team worked with dozens of countries around the world to address issues of food security as well as malnutrition.”

Actually, more than food security, hybrid rice has not caused farmer poverty to go away. A double increase in yield of rice does not bring about a double increase in the income of the farmer. The problem of farmer poverty goes beyond any increase in yield.

Now then, I shall now compare Hybrid Rice with Press Freedom as to what good both can be pursued further: Quality of life for all.

“World Press Freedom Day Forum, 'Is Journalism A Public Good[4]?’" was the title of the World Press Freedom Day Forum on 03 May 2021 sponsored by the Asian Center for Journalism of the Ateneo De Manila University. Thank you, Ateneo, for asking a private question aloud and making it public!

“Is journalism a public good?”
Today, I ask a parallel question:
“Is hybrid rice a public good?”
And my response to both questions is one and the same:
“Only if we make it!”

We cultivate rice; we gather news.

“Public good hybrid rice” means it is all of the below:

Technically feasible
Economically viable
Environmentally sound
Socially acceptable.

“Public good journalism” means all of the below:

True?
Helpful?
Inspiring?
Necessary?
Kind?

For hybrid rice to be a public good, we have to make it.
For journalism to be a public good, we have to make it.
There are no two ways about it! (Either.)

So, why not the United Nations sponsoring a World’s Good Prize? For individual or group, for any and all the good in the world!@517

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[1]https://phys.org/news/2021-05-china-yuan-longping-dies-rice.html#:~:text=Yuan%20spent%20his%20life%20researching,which%20he%20won%20in%202004.

[2]https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1167653.shtml

[3]https://www.epr.eu/quality-of-life-for-all-erasmus/

[4]http://ateneo.edu/ls/soss/acfj/events/world-press-freedom-day-forum-journalism-public-good

Neenah Hilario – “Dance, Dance On Little Girl!”

My daughter Neenah Bonafe Reynoso Hilario has turned out to be a dancer I never imagined (image announcement above, from her Facebook page). I memorized that song long ago, “Dance On Little Girl,” recorded by Canadian-American Paul Anka,singer & composer. He happens to be the favorite of Neenah’s mother Ampy, who is my wife.

Dance, dance on little girl
In the arms of someone new
As you dance, as you twirl
My heart dances with you.

Our daughter Neenah is getting married today, Saturday, 29 May 2021, and because of Covid restrictions, very few family and friends were invited – not that otherwise we would have had a grand wedding! Ha, ha. Know that I am an Ilocano, from Sanchez, Asingan, Pangasinan; my wife, Amparo “Ampy” Medina Reynoso, a Tagala, was born in Nueva Ecija where her mother Remedioscame from – Ampy’s father Gabrielwas from Tayabas. Neither poor nor rich.

The groom is Jerome Cajacinto, a classmate of Neenah since high school at the Cahbriba Alternative School in Los Baños, Laguna. Cahbriba was founded by Pilar Habito, wife of former National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary General Cielito F Habito. The Cahbriba concept was based on Harvard psychologist professor Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) – while Mr Habito was busy earning his PhD at Harvard, Ms Pilar was busy learning her MI.

Here are Gardner’s intelligences, 9 in all (earlier, I wrote about them, "The House Of Smarts. 1, Here's Inventing The iSchool Of Smarts!" 03 September 2018, House of Smarts, blogspot.com):

 ArtSmarts (Visual-Spatial Intelligence)
 BodySmarts (Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence)
 LifeSmarts (Existential Intelligence)
 MusicSmarts (Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence)
 NatureSmarts (Naturalistic Intelligence)
 NumberSmarts (Logical-Mathematical Intelligence)
 PeopleSmarts (Interpersonal Intelligence)
 SelfSmarts (Intrapersonal Intelligence)
 WordSmarts (Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence).

Mine is Word Smarts,#9. Neenah and Jerome are into teaching others their own Body Smarts, coaching others to dance, make all those movements. I can see that they are happy.

Multiple intelligences is what people have, not just 1 simple IQ. So I will not be surprised if Neenah’s and Jerome’s children will develop talents that differ from each other just as their parents learned in high school.

Know that Ampy and I have had 13 children (I have the list elsewhere so I don’t forget!)

So, what legacy or inheritance can be expected from a father like me? Not wealth – I own neither a car nor mansion – I don’t even have half a million in the bank or elsewhere. Nonetheless, today, I know I am a happy WFH, blogging every single day, in agriculture, inspiring leaders and farmers and journalists.

I confess that my married life has not been ideal mostly because I had not been paying much attention to the duties of a husband and father, mostly to my duties as writer and editor and book publisher. I love my work – but that has been at the expense of my family life, although I never noticed it. I hope Jerome and Neenah will behave more lovingly to each other, and to the members of their eventual family!@517

Agriculture PH Needs To Increase Investment In Public Goods

“Increase investment in public goods” – With me as Filipino agriculturist who happens to be a communicator for development, those 5 words of advice opened my eyes wide to the package of reforms that my country needs to bring PH Agriculture to prosperity.

The advice comes from Vice Chair V Bruce J Tolentino of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), who is also a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monetary Board Member, speaking during the first day of PH’s “National Food Security Summit” (Author Not Named, 24 May 2021). Mr Tolentino was “giving emphasis on the need to boost investments” in the agriculture & fisheries sector, as well as the need to implement the proposed amendments to the Agri Agra Law (RA 10000).

We Filipinos do not associate more government funds and wider management with much-more improved PH Agriculture – well, it’s time we did!

In those 21 words above, based on the Facebook sharing by ANN (top image), that’s my summary of the presentation of Mr Tolentino.

Pointing out that “poverty among farmers and fishers remain the highest among basic sectors,” Mr Tolentino said, “What we need are major solutions for these issues.” He laid out actually 3 major policy recommendations, but I’m interested only in the first, because that’s where my fields and interests lie:

“Increase investment in public goods that increase agri-fishery productivity, including science & technology, effective extension, efficient irrigation, and marketing infrastructure.”

Extension is my field. Let me grant that there is “Effective extension” in agriculture, but it is quite inadequate in form, content & intent. Like, we are still relying on radio! We refuse to learn the new digital language so powerful it can express anything and everything without the audience moving from location to location and day to day!

Yes, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) has digital courses, but they number only 18! (See my earlier essay, “On Extension, PH’s Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Is Good – Could Be Much Better[1].”) Only 18 courses to serve 10 million farmers from Aparri to Jolo! If budget is the excuse, now Mr Tolentino has spoken up for the ATI, no more excuses.

More than ATI’s e-courses, no matter the number, I see the urgent need to build a digital Knowledge Bank on PH Agriculture – designed for tapping by communicators for development like me, the ATI, as well as advanced farmers.

With the Knowledge Bank, I’m thinking of the whole Department of Agriculture (DA) working with cooperatives around the country. The lower image above is my photo of a meeting of the board members of our Asingan, Pangasinan’s Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative (at a hotel in Subic 08 October 2016), because I believe that cooperatives are the best conduits for extension efforts for PH Agriculture, from planting to cultivation to care to harvesting to processing to storage to marketing. In all those steps, the indispensable role of credit must be allowed to be played out. Our farmers are notorious for borrowing from usurers who, unfailingly, threaten to draw Shylock blood from their failing borrowers all the time!@517

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[1]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2021/05/on-extension-phs-agricultural-training.html

“Saving The Endangered Tawilis” – So, Where Is The Tawilis?

Very strange. A Facebookpost and a Manila Bulletin both claim that “the world’s only freshwater sardine… has been successfully reared alive… from its natural location,” which is the Taal Volcano. But not a single fish is shown!

(Manila Bulletin image above)

I say, as a communicator for development in Agriculture and related fields, a news report like that shows any or both of the following:

(1)  That journalism itself is being endangered!

(2)  That fish research itself is in question!

I take this to be a sad instance of science journalism making an unprecedented claim but not providing proof of its authenticity.

This is from the Facebook post of UPLB Office of Alumni Relations I saw 06 March 2021:

The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) has announced that the world’s only freshwater sardine (that) can only be found in Taal Lake has been successfully reared off site or away from its natural location. DoST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T De La Peña said it was the Limnological Station of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB-LS), headed by Dr Ma Vivian C Camacho, that achieved (this) major breakthrough in tawilis research last 23 Feb 2021.

Also on 06 March 2021 and on the same science study, the Manila Bulletin publishes Charissa Luci-Atienza’s news story, “Saving The Endangered Tawilis[1].” Ms Charissa announces “Good news for lovers of crispy tawilis” and says Mr De La Peña has declared:

The team has successfully kept Sardinella tawilis, locally known as tawilis, alive for several weeks in captivity at UPLB-LS in Los Baños, Laguna, away from Taal Lake, where it is known to be endemic.

Unfortunately – Neither report shows any fish either swimming in water or lying on the table. Neither a single photograph nor video. You report success without evidence – that is an empty boast, especially that this is breakthrough science, if true!

For me, a self-styled journalist in the last 45 years, these two incidents of unsubstantiated journalism dealing with the same news source are unforgivable. I blame neither the UPLB Office of Alumni Relations (OAR) nor the Manila Bulletin; instead, I blame the journalists themselves, the ones who wrote the Facebook item for the OAR and Ms Charissa:

Claiming without showing evidence is unintended but this is an intellectual insult to the readers!

Whether you are a scientist or not, science should neither be taken lightly, nor incompletely reported.

With journalistic consciousness actively at work, in this case, a Facebook message or an email would have generated the missing fishes (pun intended) – and science would have been served right! (If not the precious, delicious, tawilis.)

Mr De La Peña said the research was “to save tawilis from possible extinction should there be a massive eruption.” He explained:

This fish is found only in Taal Lake and nowhere else in the world and (was) declared as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in January 2019.

And I journalist say journalism is an endangered species itself if journalists do not support their news claims!@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2021/03/06/saving-the-endangered-tawilis/

Steve Jobs’ Single Lesson On Creativity That Made Apple The Biggest Company Ever

I love to write. To write to show my genius in concocting stories or fiction? No, to write so that I help people think better, think of winning ways. That is to say:

Many Things,
Many Thinks,
Winning Ways!

And you? Maybe not write but think of better ways, even brilliant ways out of something or other. If you don’t know it yet, you can learn to do it. We have a simple lesson from Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs was/is my idol of idols – creative, unrelenting, undefeated. Loved the digital world and what he could do to bring out its wonders: Applepersonal computer (PC), music on call at the push of a button (iPod), handy PC-in-1 (iPad), Macintosh– all business with pleasure.

To him, it was pleasure first, business second.

This morning, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 in Manila, I saw the Facebook sharing of VP Alfie (top image): “The only way to do great work is to love what you do – Steve Jobs.” (That’s how he and his great friend Steve Wozniakinvented the PC as we know it: body, monitor, mouse, keyboard, hard disk, floppy disk (now replaced with hard disk & flash drive).

Thank you, Steves! I am now 80+, thank God. Now, let me tell you how, since January 2020, I have been writing and blogging every single day! Including holidays of obligation. (And yes I do everything from blank screen to blog: Google for data & information, type the many drafts onscreen; edit; tighten; revise; and finalize into a short essay of exactly 517 words[1]including title, excluding name of author.)

Above, lower image is my Werk From Home (WFH) Kingdom. Werk, not Work because I love what I’m doing!

My way of creative thinking is from the “Po Technique” of another intellectual genius, Edward De Bono.

In the Po Technique, there are no negatives. Everything has positives, even a negative. (Try it sometime!)

Po explains how since about the year 2005, I have blogged about 5,000 long essays (1,000+ words each), and 1,000 short essays (517 words each, such as this one); that is to say: I have written and blogged thousands of essays, some of them similar or of the same topics, without plagiarizing myself!

I think the best way you can learn from me is notfor me to teach you directly how to think or how to come up with your stories, their twists and turns, but for you to read me and see for yourself those twists and turns!

I love to write, yes – not because I love to brag about how good I am at writing but to show you how good you yourself can be as teacher, persuader, initiator, motivator, follow-upper, cheerer.

Especially when it comes to Philippine Agriculture, which needs all the cheerers it can get!

I want to inspire you to do good, or to do better in what you’re doing, as long as it needs some thinking!@517

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[1]“517” being the number of letters in my byline: Frank A Hilario.

On Extension, PH’s Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Is Good – How To Make Better!

The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) prides itself as “Home of E-Extension” as far as the Philippine government is concerned (upper image[1], ATI.gov.ph), which it is – except that you have a double limitation: number of courses offered, 18; ergo, number of experts engaged by ATI!

No, neither do you have unlimited subjects nor can you ask that the training be a perfect fit for you, your farm and location. Sorry. Farmers cannot be choosers! If like me you want to choose more than 1 crop or more than 1 location (lower image)? No can do.

As of now, ATI limits you to this list of 18 “e-Learning Technokits” posted by Marianne Antonioon 25 July 2019 at the institute’s website – not alphabetized, not numbered, not updated, not edited:

Cacao Techno Kit
Highland Vegetable Production Kit
Organic Fertilizer Production Kit
Durian Production Kit
Lowland Vegetable Production Kit
Cashew Production Kit
The Philippine Cattle Industry
Broiler Production
Bangus Techno Kit
Hog Finishing Production Information Kit
Meat Processing TechnoKit
Coffee Production Kit
Corn TechnoKit
Citrus Production Kit
Mango 1: Mango Processing Information Guide
Mango 2: A Guide to Mango Production
Total Quality and Productivity for Rice
Banana Production Guide.

As extension stands today, with ATI you have to rely only on the expert. The problem is: What you’re going to be told is what you’re going to be told – you have no choice! Your trainor knows everything and you hardly know anything.

Your favorite crop may already be in the list – but how will your training fit your location, soil, water supply, not to mention market? How will you deal with alternative techniques of growing, like chemical vs organic?

The ATI is not ready to deal with a farmer like you who must deal with local realities. The problem is not the expert but the fact that the ATI has no Knowledge Bank.

With a full-blown Knowledge Bank, the ATI  could adapt an existing e-course for you, or even fashion a new one according to your needs.

Today, what the ATI expert knows is what s/he knows, that’s all.

I cannot point to you an example of a Knowledge Bank existing here or abroad. The ATI Knowledge Bank should contain much of the science and experiences with all the Philippine farm crops, livestock and fisheries you could think of, in order to cater to anyone. Science must be open, not simply possessed by experts with whom you are forced to be trained.

And yes: Science must be democratic – if the farmer doesn’t like your science, such as crop, produce or method, you cannot force it on that poor fellow!

More importantly, the Knowledge Bank must show the farmer how to be a good entrepreneur.

(The Knowledge Bank must be also for those who do not wish to be trained but are interested in learning by themselves so much agriculture or so much fisheries.)

The customer is always right! That goes with farmers too if you want to train them well.@517

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[1]https://ati.da.gov.ph/ati-main/director/09022019-1714/e-learning-technokits

PhilRice, Here Am I Checking How User-Friendly Is Your PalayCheck!?

A not-so-poor farmer’s son from Sanchez, Asingan, Pangasinan, I am an agriculture graduate of the premier agricultural university in the Philippines, UP Los Baños, 1965, BSA major in Ag Edu – I should know much about the growing of rice, right? Well, I don’t!

Right now, I’m thinking of how PH Agriculture with Secretary of Agriculture William Dar can serve the information needs of the 10 million Filipino farmers[1], as counted-reported by Zoilo “Bingo” Dejaresco III (12 September 2019, “The Tragedy Of The Filipino Rice Farmers,” Businessmirror.ph). Our farmers cannot grow enough rice, so we have to import – and the traders take advantage of all of us! We have to help our own farmers grow more rice.

If half of them planted only rice, that would give us 5 million farmers. To do right for everyone, we have to make sure that for those 5 million, their costs are minimum, their harvests are maximum, and their returns optimum.

Are we teaching them well? I will now check not by asking the farmers but by referring to their source of instructions or guide about planting irrigated lowland rice. So, here I am reading out the entries in Pinoy Rice Knowledge Bank[2] (Pinoyrice.com).

This is the first thing that appears on the website:

PalayCheck is a dynamic rice crop management system that:
(1) Presents the best key technology and management practices as Key Checks;
(2) Compares farmer practices with the best practices; and
(3) Learns through farmers’ discussion group to sustain improvement in productivity, profitability, and environment safety.

What is (all) that?! I expected farmer-friendly instructions, but it does not even present examples of “the best key technology and management practices!”

(I checked and, no, not even the IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank is farmer-friendly; likewise, it is only expert-friendly!)

Immediately, we need a Rice Knowledge Bank that even a high school student can understand and appreciate. For the sake of our farmers, ultimately for our sake.

As a lowland rice farmer of Asingan, Pangasinan, immediately I would need instructions or pieces of advice, such as these:

ü How much should I loan from our Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative good for one cropping?
ü Which of the available hybrid rice varieties is best for my farm in barangay Sanchez?
ü How many kilos do I sow for transplanting?
ü How soon should I transplant?
ü What is the best distance for planting? Why?
ü Should I use the transplanter?
ü When is the best time to plant?
ü Where can I buy organic fertilizers? If I want to make my own, how do I do it?
ü What about organic pesticides? Instead, how do I make my own?

All that and more a farmer-friendly Rice Knowledge Bank should contain.

Not to forget – the language should be plain English even a high school student understands. (Later, the translations into Tagalog, Ilocano, Bisaya etc.)

My message to Mr Dar now is this:

Let us create a farmer-friendly Rice Knowledge Bank! (Websites for other crops can come later, when we’re happy with rice.)@517

[1]https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/09/12/the-tragedy-of-the-filipino-rice-farmers/#:~:text=TODAY%20there%20are%2010%20million,and%20they%20are%20in%20trouble.


[2]https://www.pinoyrice.com/palaycheck/

Cultivating PH Farmers For Cluster Farming Via Cluster Learning, Virtual

J Prospero De Vera III, Chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), is educating all of us, Children of the Lesser Digital God. This is the beginning of a new awakening in the consciousness of all would-be teachers who are now in a new world we hardly understand ourselves! Including educators of farmers.

The process of learning must change, so must the process of teaching. And it concerns all learners.

Pertinently, here is the latest official pronouncement on college education. On Friday, 21 May 2021, during a webinar (top image, Facebook sharing) entitled “Educating Our Children In The New Normal,” Mr De Vera said:

From now on, Flexible Learning will be the norm. There is no going back to the traditional, full-packed face-to-face classrooms.

That decision of CHEd is for outright implementation. Mr De Vera said Flexible Learning will “continue in school year 2021 and thereafter” for two reasons, that if we go back to the traditional face-to-face classroom:

(1)   “We run the risk of exposing our stakeholders to the same risks if another pandemic comes in.”

(2)   “We would have wasted all the investments in technology, in teacher training, in the retrofitting of our facilities.”

Mr De Vera said, “Old norms are gone and they (teachers) must adjust to new standards.” Not only that; teachers must now interact more often with students. This requires, he said, “openness to engage and spend time with students and (the) use of new technology that (makes) conversations better and deeper.”

If you think Flexible Learning is only for higher education, I teacher say you are mistaken. I am a UP Los Baños graduate, 1965, the year before obtaining a Civil Service Professionallicense. I have taught high school and college. I have been teaching myself and mastering digital skills: writing, editing, desktop publishing, blogging – and indeed, teaching via computer programs (referred to as “applications”). And yes, nowadays photography requires digital skills, and I have been studying and applying photography in the last 30 years.

All of that brings me to the education of farmers – including necessarily in the fields, physically. Now, I ask:

How do you bring 123 farmers to the field and teach them there for, say, 1 growing season of rice – within the span of only 7 days?! And not buy food for them? Via Virtual Cluster Learning (my term)!

Now look at the lower image, which shows 2 personal computer (PC) monitors; the upper monitor showing a field, the lower 5 concepts. Without actually going to that field, wherever it is, one lesson that can be taught here is that there are 5 different options (crops, say) given the actual field conditions – and those 5 options begin to be discussed from there.

No, the farmers in training need not appear in a room (or field) with the educator or extensionist; they can be in their own houses, and even the whole family can be watching and learning from the same PC!

Virtual Cluster Learning is farm education modified, modernized, multiplied & made money-moving without a classroom!@517

Teamwork – How PH DA Is Fighting Infectious Plant & Animal Diseases

 

PH Secretary of Agriculture William Darknows what he should be doing with or without the lockdown, with several plant and animal diseases attacking farmer crops and livestock – with all that the DA has to offer. And that is? With his Servant Leadership leading The DA Team.

Mr Dar is no stranger to national-international institutional challenges. He has 15 years experience being the Servant Leader of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in India. From 2000 to 2014, he brought ICRISAT, among 15 international agricultural research centers of the CGIAR, which include IRRI, from kulelat (dead last) to #1. Unprecedented!

This January, ANN says, the DA said it was “strengthening its laboratory network system in its continuing fight against infectious diseases such as African Swine Fever (ASF) in hogs, avian influenza (AI) in poultry, foot and mouth disease (FMD) in livestock, Panama disease in banana, and fall armyworm (FAW) in corn and onion, among others” (Author Not Named, 20 January 2021, “DA Sets Up Integrated Laboratories Vs Animal, Plant Diseases[1],” DA.gov.ph).

On that occasion, via DA Department Order #1 dated 05 January 2021, Mr Dar said:

We are adopting an integrated “OneDA” laboratory masterplan that incorporates international bio-risk management standards and best practices on biosafety and biosecurity measures, regulations, and certifications.

We have to protect the crops we grow and the animals we raise to protect ourselves, not to mention our country.

Now then, is the DA today equipped to deal with crop and livestock diseases anywhere in the country? There is now a masterplan, ANN says:

The ”OneDA” Masterplan (to cope with diseases) was proposed by the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE) after consultations with concerned DA national laboratories, bureaus, and regional field offices (RFOs), through the assistance of the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Mr Dar said, “The will help prime the country’s national and regional laboratory services to tighten biosafety and biosecurity measures against plant and animal diseases, including smuggling” (of commercial plant and animal materials).

The plan calls for the formulation of policies and approaches to either construct new ones or upgrade existing national laboratories of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), and Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), which are all under the DA.

The top image shows Mr Dar leading the launching of the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL) (ANN, 14 May 2021, “DA-Bicol Inaugurates State-Of-The Art & One-Stop-Shop Laboratory Facility,” DA RFO 5, Bicol.da.gov.ph). It is a P100 million Integrated Laboratory complex, a state- of-the-art, one-stop-shop facility that offers plant, animal, pest, feed and food diagnostic, testing and other laboratory services. The laboratories include the RADDL, Regional Soils Laboratory, Regional Feed Chemical Analysis Laboratory, and Regional Crop Protection Center – Plant Diagnostic Laboratory. These 4 major DA laboratories are now housed in the 4 interconnected 2-storey buildings in a quadrangle formation.

With the OneDA Approach, with Secretary Dar, we have knowledgeable leaders and able servants working for the best of Philippine Agriculture!@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-sets-up-integrated-laboratories-vs-animal-plant-diseases/

Searca & Asean Want Access To Big Data – Meanwhile, UPLB Is An Unmoving Giant!

 

On 26 April 2021, based at UP Los Baños, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) sponsored the “1st Knowledge Sharing Workshop” with Asean member states (AMS). Meanwhile, UPLB was unmoving in the digital front!

Searca’s headquarters is right next to the University Library in the campus of UP Los Baños in Laguna. An alumnus coming in and going out of the campus in the last 61 years, I know UPLB is smart in the science of agriculture but sleepy when it comes to digitization of that science. I know: Digital is taught only to a limited few; and it’s difficult teaching yourself digital. Nonetheless, it is necessary that:

Physician, heal yourself!
Professor, teach yourself!

This is in fact the second such event. ANN says, “SEARCA Holds 2nd Knowledge Sharing Workshop On Digital Technologies In The Agricultural Sector With Asean And ERIA[1]” (Author Not Named, 14 May 2021, Searca.org). Asean is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and ERIA is the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia.

ANN says:

The activity looks further into the experiences of Asean member states…. It (is) also a platform to discuss their inputs and gather suggestions for the development of a set of guidelines to equip the ASEAN region with recommendations and implementation considerations for making informed decisions that will shape the digital transformation of agriculture in the region.

The ultimate goal? “Digital transformation of agriculture in the (Asean) region.” Big Data applied to Agriculture by the Agriculturists. And if UP Los Baños will keep maintaining its digital distance, my alma mater will be The One Left Behind!

Here are a few participants at the knowledge workshop and their knowledge contributions:

Paul Teng of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore:

… discussed the challenges of agricultural digitalization in AMS, including the uncertainty in business viability and scalability, limited freedom (of) farmers to operate with data across multiple data service providers due to prohibitive costs…

I note the “limited freedom (of) farmers to operate with data… due to prohibitive costs” – that is one of the major reasons why Asean must digitize agriculture for the good of Asean peoples. (That is one of the major reasons why UPLB should have digitized PH Agriculture long ago!)

Masao Matsumotoof the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan …

highlighted (his) country's strategies to promote smart agriculture, including demonstrations and dissemination, support services to farmers, enabling environment, extension services, and overseas promotions.

I note that Japan is promoting support services to farmers – what is UPLB doing as a whole for Filipino farmers?

Nerlita Manalili, Searca technical consultant, “presented the conclusions of the survey on adopting digital technologies as well as the draft guidelines.”

In the discussions, among other things, the group “noted that access to information is crucial in attracting stakeholders' action to support digital transformation in agriculture.”

While all Southeast Asia await for the knowledge sharing guidelines for Asean to be finalized, I see the sunset behind the UPLB library!@517

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[1]https://www.searca.org/news/searca-holds-2nd-knowledge-sharing-workshop-digital-technologies-agricultural-sector-asean-eria?fbclid=IwAR01TSwukka5hncUxQS6wYRkU_jzlbRUaa6RPZd6gaoTcQcIdSWMo7uzMVk

Farmer Entrepreneurship? Better. Farm Cluster Entrepreneurship? Best!

This time I am concentrating on farm entrepreneurship, which many PH farmers do not observe, so they do not talk about profit and loss!

We want the Philippines to be self-sufficient in food, right? Now, as reported by Revin Mikhael D Ochave (18 May 2021, “Farm Aid Needs To Be Better Targeted To Achieve Competitiveness, Habito Says[1],” BusinessWorld), according to Cielito F Habito, former head of the National Economic Development Authority, speaking during the first day of the 2021 NationalFood Security Summit organized by the Department of Agriculture (DA):

Assistance should take the form of helping farmers expand their access to technology and inputs; improve their capacity as farm entrepreneurs; facilitate their access to markets, and achieve scale economies through farm clustering.

A short paragraph of 33 words that to me inadvertently and powerfully summarizes what William Dar has espoused for PH Agriculture since he became Secretary of Agriculture on 05 August 2019. Thus:

1. “Expand their access to technology and inputs” –
Mostly, we do not bring to the attention of farmers enough technologies for them to compare by results and decide for themselves which one(s) to adopt. And mostly, we do not assist farmers in identifying affordable & economic technologies for production. We simply allow the inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to predominate.

2. “Improve their capacity as farm entrepreneurs” –
Filipino farmers are notoriously notbusiness-minded, and so they do not practice any farm budgeting. No farm records whatsoever, no profit and loss computations. And they borrow from the usurers, paying 20% for any amount for any length of time.

3. “Facilitate their access to markets” –
And they sell their farm produce at the wrong time, during harvest time, when prices are the lowest! What we need to do is to assist them in marketing not only physically but also financially, so that they do not have to sell their produce at the wrong time just to raise funds for the family!

4. “Achieve scale economies through farm clustering” –
This advice is in line with a previous pronouncement by Mr Dar made last year, “DA Introduces Modern Cluster Farming[2]” (ANN, 11 November 2020. NewsLine Philippines, Newsline.ph). On that occasion, Mr Dar said, “It is important to convince farmers and their respective cooperatives and associations… to collectivize and come together to optimize the interventions and assistance provided by the DA and other government agencies.” The Bridge of Blessing Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (BBFAC) had partnered with an Israeli-based company (not identified) to engage in Modern Cluster Farming Technology. Evangeline B Bartolazo, BBFAC Chair, said they ventured into high-value vegetables such as lettuce, cauliflower, and salad tomato including eggplant, upo, and ampalaya. With the technology, the vegetable farmers doubled their yields and improved the quality of their produce.
(photograph on top from BBFAC, clustering image[3]from SlideServe)

And so I go back to farmer entrepreneurship, because it is the essence of farm clustering – as a cluster of entrepreneurs.

So yes, Sir – I happen to agree with all 4 of Mr Habito’s farm clustering recommendations!@517

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[1]https://www.bworldonline.com/farm-aid-needs-to-be-better-targeted-to-achieve-competitiveness-habito-says/?fbclid=IwAR04cumiF2Tc_324W427_5CcdCG2TABpWNKLYCKLLNJ9IcN3Yq4QhYw_EMg

[2]https://newsline.ph/top-stories/2020/11/11/da-introduces-modern-cluster-farming/

[3]https://www.slideserve.com/sofia/clustering-approach-for-agroenterprise-development

William Dar – Despite Tremendous Odds, Encouraging PH Farmers With Loans & Helps!

On Facebook, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar has come up with the above 2 graphs, among other sharings, and yes, they’re mind-blowing! But like him, I continue to support the Filipino farmers, and to do what can be done for them: inform and inspire!

Let me concentrate on the lower image. The Poverty Scorecard tells us that PH’s poverty incidence of 21.6% is 2 times more than Indonesia’s (10.6%) and Thailand’s (10.5%), 3 times more than Vietnam’s (7.0%), and 20+ times more than Malaysia’s (0.4%)!

Shameful, but not hopeless. The poverty of Filipino farmers is where I continue to help eradicate, to fight for.

And my weapon of choice is Communication for Development (ComDev), my own 30-year old intellectual creation – the meaning of which is obvious. I published my ComDev theory in 1980, in the technical journal of the Forest Research Institute (FORI) titled Sylvatrop, of which I was the Editor In Chief. That was the time of Filiberto Pollisco, Director of FORI.

In contrast, UP Los Baños professor Nora Quebral’s 39-year old concept of Development Communication (DevCom), out 1972, does not require that it be dedicated to development, which is a pity.

Wake up, DevCom of UP Los Baños: Arise!
You have nothing to lose but your chains!

Thus, the concept of farmer credit for instance – why does not DevCom teach farmers to avail of government loans via the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), which is an agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA)? For instance, the “Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs” (KAYA) program being implemented by the ACPC. (You can read more about it here: “DA’s Kapital For Filipino Modern-Day Aspiring Young Agripreneurs (Yaggies)[1],” 18 May 2021, Brave New World.)

In another front, why does not DevCom encourage Filipino farmers to become members of cooperatives and thereby avail themselves of loans, not to mention machineries for rent? DevCom is supposed to be Extension, but it has remained aloof from it!

Another very bad habit that Filipino farmers ought to discard is their borrowing from usurers and paying back 20% within 1 planting season, paying P6 for every P5 owed. The main attraction of those usurers is that they are always ready with cash desired at any time.

There is still yet a double-negative habit of farmers – not drying their palay to the optimum and hurriedly selling their harvest almost right after harvest time. Those result in low buying prices offered by merchants everywhere taking advantage of farmers’ immediate need for cash – they know their business while farmers don’t!

What UP Los Baños can do, through DevCom as an active institutional assistance to Filipino farmers, is to promote packages of technologies & systems for any combination of crops and livestock raising by which farmers’ incomes are guaranteed to be advantageous, sustainable and justified.

Meantime, I an alumnus am dreaming of the day when UP Los Baños has constructed a Knowledge Bank for farmers that they can access anytime and understand! If UP Los Baños cannot resonate with the farmers, who can?!@517

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[1]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2021/05/das-kapital-for-filipino-modern-day.html