ONE DA – Yes Sir! Let DA. Let’s Do It!

“Towards a modern & industrialized Philippine agriculture” – is not PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar dreaming?!

“ONE DA.” As head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, Mr Dar came out 04 January with such a HUGE department-wide pronouncement. “DA lines up key strategies to steer agri-fishery growth and transformation in 2021” (image above from Facebook post). Downloadable via the DA website, the18-page PowerPoint presentation has these:

Vision:
A food secure & resilient Philippines with empowered & prosperous farmers & fisherfolk.

Mission:
To empower farmers and fisherfolk through collective action and attract private sector investments with inclusive agribusiness towards agricultural efficiencies, productivity, sustainability and resilience.

Twin Goals:
Masaganang ANI at mataas na KITA.
(“Bountiful HARVESTS & Bounteous EARNINGS” – FAH translation.)

PREAMBLE
The key strategies will accelerate transformation towards a modern & industrialized Philippine agriculture thru an inclusive approach.

There are 12 key strategies, these ones:

1. Farm Clustering/Bayanihan

2. Province-Led Agriculture And Fisheries Extension System (PAFES)

3. Agri-Industrial Business Corridors (ABCs)

4. Infrastructure Investments

5. Post-Harvest, Processing Logistics & Marketing Support

6. Digital Agriculture

7. Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation Measures

8. Mobilization & Empowerment Of Partners To Attain Scale

9. Global Trade, Export Development & Promotion

10. Food Safety & Regulations

11. Ease Of Doing Business & Transport Procurement

12. Strategic Communication Support

Is not Mr Dar putting too much into his mouth at the same time that he cannot chew properly and swallow smoothly?

I see ONE DA as a pandemic, fast-and-furious holistic revision of his earlier 2019 “New Thinking for Agriculture” with its supportive “8 paradigms.” He did not anticipate the coronavirus lockdown – but, he knew the many things the DA, other departments, local government units, legislature, and the food producers hadto do collectively – and fast, so that farmers do not run out of consumers and there is no shortage of food despite the calamities.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Here comes former Secretary of Economic Planning Cielito F Habito and his Inquirer column “Investing In Our Farms[1]” of 05 January 2020, saying:

… Agriculture could well be the game changer for the Philippines’ post-pandemic economic future. After all, it was the only major economic sector that defied the economic downturn, posting positive growth while the overall economy went on a steep dive.

Mr Economist is clearly saying, “Agriculture under William Dar was the only major economic sector that went up while the other sectors went down.” How did Mr Dar achieve this?

Among other things, Mr Dar summoned his experience as Secretary of Agriculture under President Joseph Estrada, and as a 3-term (15-year) Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India – leading ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among the international agricultural agencies of the CGIAR Group, with IRRI among the 15.

Also, Mr Dar is a poor boy from the Ilocos. Thus, it is not surprising that he knows how to take pity on poor farmers, fishers and their families – his is management of science with a human face!@517

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[1]https://opinion.inquirer.net/136725/investing-in-our-farms?fbclid=IwAR1rW3wlBeHTIGAuLSlMM-MMFamhxMsDhjZ7nJ4G0Yejs1FNRmr2ecPqC1E

How Good Are Hybrid Rices In The Philippines?

Challenge To Advanta, Bayer, Pioneer & SL Agritech – My Conservation Farming To Compare Your Hybrid Rices!

I am convinced that hybrid rice can help my country tremendously in economic terms; now, I want to know how good are those varieties where. So I want to manage myself a field comparison of costs & returns. I want a techno-demo.
(“1.1.1.1.” image, https://1.1.1.1/dns)
(hybrid rice image[1], Sultan Kudarat, Agriculture.com.ph)

Which is the #1 Hybrid Rice in the Philippines?
It’s not the total yield – it’s the net income!

Mordor Intelligence puts these 4 as major players in hybrid rice in the Philippines[2]: Bayer, Advanta, Pioneer, SL Agritech; now I want to challenge these companies:

To generate data, your hybrid rice grown with my conservation farming. Let’s see how technically & economically & environmentally & socially sustainable is it when grown with least cost.

For techno-demo, your place, not mine. Your company will spend for 1 hectare to plant and manage your hybrid from seed to seed: soil preparation, seed sowing, transplanting, care & maintenance, harvesting, drying, storage, up to marketing.

Who is Frank A Hilario who dares this techno-demo? I am the son of a farmer, an UPCA graduate, BSA major in Ag Edu, UP '65, graduating with a 2.36 weighted average grade. I passed the very first Teacher’s Exam in 1964 with a grade of 80.6%. And I am historically the one and only Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing of all University of the Philippines System, awarded in 2011. I am the world’s most creative blogger – visit my blog
BraveNewWorld@PH, https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com.

If you don’t know my kind of farming, for introduction, read “Where Can We Filipinos Learn The Better Science Of Farming? From Kansas[3]!” (05 January 2020, BraveNewWorld@PH). To compare your rices, for the techno-demo, I will be the Farm Manager in all 4 hectares cultivated in exactly the same cost-saving ways. Thus:

Step 1.   Trash Mulching
No plowing. Instead, big tractor or hand tractor rotavator blades will be used for the first cultivation. The opposite-cutting blades should slice soil and weeds simultaneously and mix them together in one continuous motion; this is repeated throughout all parcels of the 1-ha field. The mulch will keep the soil moist and slowly and surely make it fertile.

Step 2.   Direct Seeding
2 weeks after trash mulching, a direct seeder will be used to plant the seeds all over the field. (A separate small plot will be hand-sown with seeds to supply seedlings to missing hills later.)

Step 3.   Care of Ricefield
The field will be irrigated if and when necessary.

Step 4.   Fertilizing
As needed.

Step 5.   Pest Control
As necessary.

Step 6.   Harvesting
By combine harvester.

Step 7.   Drying
By solar bubble dryer (check with IRRI website).

Step 8.   Storage
Where convenient and safe.

Step 9.   Marketing
Pre-arranged with consumers, with signed contracts.

Step 10.  Review
How can cultivation be improved in any of the steps?

Techno-demo now! How good is your hybrid rice where? Our farmers have to find out, have to be unmistakably shown.@517

 

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[1]https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/07/17/hybrid-rice-direct-seeding-successful-in-sultan-kudarat/
[2]https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/philippines-hybrid-rice-seed-market
[3]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2021/01/where-can-we-filipinos-learn-better.html

Where Can We Filipinos Learn The Better Science Of Farming? From Kansas!

Yes, from The Wizard of Oz! The unexpected news from Kabankalan City reminds me of Kansas City and, according to Kay Vandette, “The Wizard Of Oz (Which) Was The Most Influential Film Ever, Study Finds[1],” 29 November 2018), earth.com). 

(Wizard of Oz image[2] from pngfind.com)

Today in the Philippines, The Wizard of Oz is influencing us still, this time in our agriculture, would you believe? The film is based on Frank L Baum’s 1900 children’s fantasy novel, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. The whole fantastic story happened in Kansas.

Today we have the Kansas State University, KSA, as the Witch’s Castle, where we can find The Wizard of Oz, who is now teaching us what we think we already know: Agriculture!

A research professor at the KSA who happens to be Filipino, Manny Reyes, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, has introduced at the Central Philippines State University, CPSU, in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, Conservation Farming. This is a product of the initiative of CPSU President Aladino Moraca. (“Aladino” – shades of Aladdin & his wonderful lamp!)

Mr Moraca explains:

(Conservation farming) is done through three components – minimum soil disturbance (permanent no till), permanent organic soil cover, and diversification of species in rotation, sequence or associations.

Permanent no cultivation –
Do not plow, ever, Mr Moraca says. Constant plowing disturbs the soil and rubs it of its natural elements and compounds. “It is like stripping off the soil’s clothes, resulting in depletion” of matter and substance.

Permanent organic soil cover –
Mulching is a natural way to fertilize the soil by encouraging the growth of microorganisms that produce the rich soil. In the beginning, mulching eliminates the weeds. Mr Moraca says to “add (crop) residue to cover the soil regularly.”

Permanent diversification of species –
“And don’t practice monocropping,” Mr Moraca says. Instead, diversify the species of crops grown. To maximize productivity, different crops are planted in the farm. Also, legumes help condition the soil with nitrogen.

Conservation farming– All in all, you conserve soil moisture, conserve soil fertility, and conserve the necessary mix of crops for your farming.

Mr Moraca says:

This is the sure-win formula to solve the economic dilemma that our country is facing today. This farming system ensures stable supply of farm produce to answer issues on food security, especially on rice sufficiency, at the same time guarantee(s) sustainable livelihood for our marginalized farmers.

Sure-win formula? Conservation farming is low-cost farming, which helps farmers tremendously.

Stable supply of farm produce? Conservation farming is non-stop farming and therefore ensures food security.

Sustainable livelihood? Since conservation farming increases the fertility of the soil, increases the productivity of the crops, and decreases cost of production, the farmers are sure to earn much each harvest time. And since the high fertility of the soil is maintained all the time, there is always high productivity – leading to high net incomes. And all that continues as long as conservation farming is practiced by the farmers.

Let us then give thanks to the USAID!@517

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[1]https://www.earth.com/news/wizard-oz-influential-film/

[2]https://www.pngfind.com/mpng/iioxiRT_dirt-road-clipart-wizard-oz-wizard-of-oz/

WFH, Writing From Home Everyday In 2020, On The Boring Topic Of Agriculture Yet!

I’m an unusual WFH, writer from home. Above image: screen grab from BraveNewWorld@PH, my blog. Pasted head of me taken 15 July 2014, 6 years ago, by Yja Hilario with Lolo’s Lumix  FZ100 camera (painterized by Lolo).

I have just finished going over the titles of my essays all of 2020 in this blog of mine, BraveNewWorld@PH, https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com, and I see that I published about 400 essays last year alone. I turned 80 on 17 September 2020 – how many communicators are as blog productive as I am in a dull subject like Agriculture? And to write each essay, each 517 words, I never go out and interview people?! (I call each one “essay” because, like this, it is written in the personal, me-to-you style.)

It’s called creativity.

And here are essays selected from my daily blogposts last year, 2020, from January to December:

21 January 2020: “How Are PH Media Treating The DA And Secretary William Dar? Poorly!”

16 February 2020: “PH Public Science And Public Service – More Bananas, Please!”

29 May 2020: “Given The Lockdown, How Media Can Be Revolutionary Many Times Over!“

31 July 2020: “RCEF For PH Agriculture: Farmers Not Yet Business-Aware. Scientists Not So Active. Extensionists Not So Alive!”

10 August 2020: “Postharvest – To Make 5Ps For The New PH DA Under Secretary Of Agriculture William Dar!”

02 September 2020: “Baguio Cabbage – The Market Must Come First Before Supply”

30 September 2020: “Where Did Those P40 Million Worth Of Catsup Go! Ketchup To Catch Up With Tomato Farmers In The Ilocos – William Dar”

24 October 2020: “Hybrid Rice Gives Farmers Higher Gross Income Of P116,000/Ha – Where Is The Problem There?”

22 November 2020: “'Mr Asian Science Leader' He Is To Me”

30 December 2020: “Jose Rizal As The Happy Martyr! And As Agriculturist, Businessman & Educator”

All that is me encouraging any and all those who wish to write in the broad topic of Agriculture.

I’m committed to practice what I call communication for development, ComDev, every time. ComDev is dissimilar to UPLB’s or Nora Quebral’s development communication, DevCom, I declare. ComDev is a deliberate attempt to enlighten someone on a chosen subject – and in sequence when necessary – consciously towards progress of the reader and/or community, in this case in Agriculture.

BraveNewWorld@PH is the best example of ComDev!

ComDev is a conscious, sustained effort to bring about positive change in the art or act of a farmer, technician, extensionist, leader, whoever in the village.

Where there is a will, there is a way!

Why am I writing on Agriculture full-time? Nobody is doing it, why not me? I believe Agriculture is the key to this archipelago’s development.

For the rest of my years – I pray to God I will reach 120, ha ha, or at least 97 – I am devoting to writing about the positive, advantageous, beneficial, new and/or improved, sustainable theories and practices in agriculture. That is to say, if I think it can help farming, I will write about it.

As long as I am able, everyday.@517

 

Taal Lake Likers & Lovers, Let’s Save The Tawilis!

Is the inland fishery of Taal Lake going the way of Laguna Lake? Laguna Lake as a fish world died long ago; today, are the death throes of Taal Lake as a fish universe coming soon?

I was Managing Editor (not the title given) of The ICLARM Newsletter in 1981 even as it published a technical paper that detailed how Laguna Lake was dying. Reading that ICLARM report, I believed that Laguna Lake actually was already dead at that time. Time proved me right.

Now comes the non-technical report by Gaea Katreena Cabico titled “Saving Taal Lake, Preserving The Endemic Tawilis[1]” (31 December 2020, PhilStar.com). Miss Gaea says that in 2018, the International Union for Conservation of Nature “listed the… tawilis as endangered.” In fact, the assessment was made by PH scientists who said the fish harvest has been declining since 1998 “due to wanton fishing, illegal use of active fishing gears, proliferation of fish cages, and deterioration of water quality in the lake.”

Tawilis “endangered.” Over-fishing, illegal fishing, fish-cage fishing have all been contributing to the declining tawilis population and water quality of Taal Lake. Those are the exact same reasons why Laguna Lake died long ago!

I am saying that we could not save Laguna Lake, and there was/is the Laguna Lake Development Authority. We should learn from policy mistakes.

How are we going to save Taal Lake, a very much smaller area, for the precious tawilis, which is, according to experts, the only freshwater sardine in the world!?Last year, Miss Gaea says, the government started enforcing a closed season for tawilis fishing – catching tawilis is now banned in March and April every year, “to allow the endemic fish species to reproduce and replenish (itself with) new stocks.”

Maria Theresa Mutia, Chief of the Freshwater Fisheries Research and Development Center of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, NFRDI, says tawilis spawns in March and April. “What’s happening is they’re caught even before they spawn.” Well, I personally know that a female fish whose belly is full of eggs is delicious to eat! My experience is freshwater, from a tributary of the Agno River in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan. But yes, that’s the danger there.

Miss Gaea’s report, not simply a news story, is long, a total of 2,800 words – but nowhere does it recommend action to conserve this precious fish species. Never heard of the NFRDI before, so googling, I just found out that the NFRDI is under the Department of Agriculture, DA – which means the overall oversight is that of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. Well then, we can expect more policy action from the DA.

Meanwhile, if I were anywhere near Taal, I would take advantage of the virtual classrooms and try to convince high school students in, around and near Tapal Lake, to discuss among themselves, virtually, what to do for conserving – note, not preserving – the tawilis. If not for the lockdown, I would love to visit Taal Lake and write my fish story, if truth be told.@517

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/12/31/2067351/saving-taal-lake-preserving-endemic-tawilis?bclid=IwAR2fqrP4NkbxQwbvztweXt6gX8liDMd1iaVWwbn1IrP3rjrC8EffiTj8UDM

Philippine Towns & Cities With 163,400 Gardens Of Edens!

 

Magically, I am looking at the multiplication of the Garden of Eden as a future perfect picture of Agriculture in my island paradise called the Philippines.

Above, you see the “Garden of Eden” image[1] I copied from Eden-Gallery.com, which I multiplied 10 times. Thus inspired, for improving Philippine Agriculture, I’m thinking of the Ten Commandments of the Modern Garden of Eden as:

Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!
Plant!

And what is to be planted? Not is, but are to be planted:

Flowers
Fruit Trees
Ornamentals
Vegetables.

Those are crops in the list of the Science of Horticulture. In other words, the way I look at it now:

Horticulture is going to be the Savior of Philippine Agriculture!

Flowers (Floriculture), Fruit trees (Pomology), Ornamentals (Ornamental Horticulture), Vegetables (Olericulture).

Why do I call them Gardens of Edens? Plural and plural. You can have your own version of Garden, and I’m thinking of Woman as Gardener generically named Eden, championing each Garden. That would be perfect!

I got the idea of “The Perfect Garden Of Eden!” googling on the “food forest” that many people are talking about abroad and here in my beloved Philippines – look at the links and sharings in your Facebook pages. People now mix Agriculture with Forestry – and they should!

I’m counting the total towns and cities in the Philippines: 146 cities and 1,488 municipalities[2] (PSA.gov.ph); thus, if we had 100 hectares in each city & town, we have 163,400 Gardens of Edens all over the Philippines. If that happens, we will be living in Paradise!

Question: Why are there so many crops in each Garden of Eden?
Answer: Why not? If we had all those 163,400 gardens growing throughout the Philippines, their owners will be richer and the Philippines will be much richer in food and pleasant climate! Not to mention simply MuchRicher.

I am thinking of the Department of Agriculture as the Tempter for each Eden to cultivate her Garden. For 2021, the DA has enough budget for enough Gardens of Edens, I say. And Secretary of Agriculture William Dar has more than enough leadership. A lady leader assured me 8 years ago, in 2012:

“As manager, William Dar knows how to assign people.”

And in case you did not know, I am using the metaphor of the Garden, of Horticulture, because William Dar, our Secretary of Agriculture, is a Horticulturist by profession – he has a PhD in Horticulture obtained from UP Los Baños.

Given163,400 Gardens of Edens all over the Philippines, we will be able to resolve in these islands the climate crisis like no other country can!

And why would each of those Gardens of Edens be perfect? Because in each the essence of a garden is there:

There are plants, air, water, sunlight in happy relationships with animals. The Woman is Lord & Master, the Man is the actual Cultivator.

The people can come up with any combination of the crops for the Garden of Eden they like.

That, my friends, is The Philippines Future Perfect!@517

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[1]https://www.eden-gallery.com/news/the-garden-of-eden/
[2]https://psa.gov.ph/classification/psgc/

Whispering Hope Clustering – Interventions And Assistances Provided By PH DA

I say, beginning this 2021, we should start counting the value of the interventions and assistances provided by the DA to the agriculture and fisheries sectors. This follows from what Secretary of Agriculture William Darsays:

(Firstly), it is important to convince farmers and their respective (farmer) cooperatives and associations or FCAs to collectivize and come together to optimize the interventions and assistance provided by the DA and other government agencies.

Thus, I hear the DA singing “Whispering Hope[1]” (lyrics by Bill Gaither):

Soft as the voice of an angel, breathing a lesson unheard
Hope with a gentle persuasion, whispers her comforting word.
Let us now pay 100% attention as the “DA Introduces Modern Cluster Farming[2]” (ANN, 11 November 2020. NewsLine Philippines, Newsline.ph; top image from same source):

Davao City – Vegetable farmers in Baracatan, Toril, Davao City adopt precision agriculture technology to double their yield and improve quality of their produce.

The Bridge of Blessing Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (BBFAC) partnered with (an) Israeli-based company to engage in Modern Cluster Farming Technology.  Evangeline B Bartolazo, BBFAC Chairperson says their cooperative was formed in 2017 and ventured (into) high-value vegetables such as lettuce, cauliflower, and salad tomato including eggplant, upo, and ampalaya.

Now, that Davao cooperative headed by Miss Bartolazo is thriving!

The DA is whispering hope to organized farmers, lots of hope. Mr Dar continues what he says above:

Secondly, it is easier and more cost-efficient and effective for the DA to deal with organized farmers through their FCAs than individual farmers, as we provide them appropriate training and cutting-edge technologies, including farm inputs like seeds and fertilizers, and farm equipment and machinery.

Trainings, technologies, seeds, fertilizers, sets of equipment, machinery – What else do you want from the DA!?

Listen to what the BBFAC people are saying. Don’t we hear them singing?

Whispering hope, oh, how welcome thy voice
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.

Clustering means grouping smaller individual operations into one big operation. “Clustering and consolidation leads to attaining economies of scale,” says DA Region 11 Regional Director Ricardo Oñate Jr. “This (enables farmers) to greatly reduce their cost of operations, attain bountiful harvests, and earn better incomes.”

Before the BBFAC came into being, Miss Evangeline says the individual vegetable farmers “could not meet the volume and quality required by the market.” And irrigation was one of their major constraints. “Our crops wilted during dry season since we could hardly cope the need to water them,” she said. After Netafim, one of the world’s pioneering irrigation companies, identified the BBFAC area as the demo site for its Modern Cluster Farming Technologies:

“We invested P2 million to replicate the technology we introduced in India such as establishment of viable water source, application of drip fertigation technology, and training on (an) effective irrigation system,” says Alex Gamutan, NetaPhils CEO.

ANN says, Miss Evangeline says, “the assistance they received enabled them to increase their yield, improve quality of produce, and lower production cost.”

The DA is not only whispering – it is clustering farmers’ hopes!@517

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[1]https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bill_gaither/whispering_hope.html
[2]https://newsline.ph/top-stories/2020/11/11/da-introduces-modern-cluster-farming/