PH Department of Agriculture, Where Buzzwords Abound, And Focus Must Be On The Single Vision For Farmers & Fishers “Masaganang Ani At Mataas Na Kita” – Plenteous Harvests & Bountiful Earnings

With William Dar as Secretary of Agriculture, his leadership of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its numerous agencies has produced so many “buzzwords” as he calls them – concepts that he uses to successfully serve the DA as its Servant Leader.

Mr Dar was speaking at the launch of his own book titled Beyond Buzzwords subtitled “Transforming Philippine Agriculture” at the Agricultural Training Institute in Quezon City on Friday, 08 April 2022. I have asked for a copy, and currently am waiting for the courier.

Meanwhile, how to understand the works of the DA under Mr Dar – I have come up with the idea of, you guessed it: “Amid Buzzwords”!

In my daily journalistic pursuit of knowledge bits for Communication for Village Development in the 21^stCentury (CoViD21), concerning the DA, I have come across many of such buzzwords. Here is an incomplete, un-alphabetized list:

1.      New Thinking for Agriculture

2.      Industrialization

3.      Consolidation Of Small- And Medium-Sized Farms

4.      Higher Budget And Investment For Agriculture

5.      Infrastructure Development

6.      Promotion Of Exports

7.      Legislative Support

8.      Modernization

9.      Roadmap Development

10.  Clustering

11.  Financial Assistances

12.  Paradigms

13.  Grants

14.  “Masaganang Ani At Mataas na Kita”

15.  OneDA

16.  Paradigm Shift

17.  Value Chain System.

Note that my short list of buzzwords is longer than the list of regular agencies of the DA!

Regular Agencies:

1.      Agricultural Training Institute

2.      Bureau of Agricultural & Fisheries Engineering

3.      Bureau of Agricultural Research

4.      Bureau of Agriculture & Fisheries Standards

5.      Bureau of Animal Industry

6.      Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources

7.      Bureau of Plant Industry

8.      Bureau of Soils & Water Management

Attached Agencies:

9.      Agricultural Credit Policy Council

10.  Fertilizer & Pesticide Authority

11.  National Fisheries Research & Development Institute

12.  National Food Authority

13.  National Meat Inspection Service

14.  National Tobacco Administration

15.  Philippine Carabao Center

16.  Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization

17.  Philippine Coconut Authority

18.  Philippine Council for Agriculture & Fisheries

19.  Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority

20.  PhilRice

21.  Quedan Rural Credit & Guarantee Corporation

22.  Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center

23.  Sugar Regulatory Administration

I especially translate “Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita” as “Plenteous Harvests & Bountiful Earnings” – those words expressing the basic goal of the DA for farmers and fishers.

In my short-long list, buzzwords at the DA look like a dime-a-dozen – only if you neglect to check out where they are coming from. For example, “Roadmap Development” must be understood in terms of Mr Dar’s mantra “New Thinking For Agriculture.”

According to ANN, author Mr Dar said in the book’s Introduction (Author Not Named, DA.gov.ph):

Buzzwords are often dismissed because of over-use. Through this book, I invite readers to go past the rhetoric and use these buzzwords to drive meaningful discussion to promote growth and development, diversity, inclusivity, and sustainability.

And so in this genial intellectual exercise of CoViD21, I have encountered fertility, not futility!@517