Farmer Success Multiplied 2,000,000 Times – We Pinoys Can Do It!

“Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure,” says Mark Twain, one of my favorite American writers. I now challenge all the 101 gigil-na-gigil (teeth-gritting) critics of the PH Department of Agriculture (DA), from headship to followership: You debunk the claim by DAthat “at least two million rice farmers are now reaping and enjoying the initial benefits under the (Duterte) government’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Program[1].” Ha, ha.

Written on the above image, here is the Facebook sharing of PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar:

On RCEF

We are pleased to report for the first two years of implementation of the RTL (Rice Tariffication Law) that created the RCEF (Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund), farmers are producing additional harvests, averaging 400 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) or roughly eight cavans (at 50 kg each), which is equivalent to an additional income of P7,000 per hectare. This shows that with the use of certified seeds, adoption of modern technologies, and mechanizing land preparation, crop establishment and harvesting, farmers could attain incremental yields.

Average additional income of P7,000 from an added yield of 400 kg/ha; and success multiplied 2 million times – my congratulations to Mr Dar and all DA officers from Aparri to Jolo! Failures don’t lie, but successes figure more!

When you are a rice farmer, as a son of a rice farmer myself, I can say that an additional income of P7,000/ha for every growing season is very much welcome.

Note well that this was achieved by the farmers planting seeds certified by PhilRice – not simply their own selections of the heavier panicles at harvest time, a practice that my father did which his son, I thought was a wise move.

To be sure, the farmer assistances of the DA were in these 4 forms: Seeds, Mechanization, Credit, and Extension.

Seeds
With uncertified rice seeds, farmers can harvest an average of 3.6 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha); with certified seeds, they can produce at least 4 MT/ha, according to Dionisio Alvindia, Director of the National Integrated Rice Program. To date, 674,400 farmers have received from PhilRice 1.68 million bags of free certified inbred rice seeds, planted in 843,000 hectares in 948 RCEF municipalities nationwide. The quota is 40 kg/ha.

Mechanization
Not to forget, mechanization is a big factor in successful farming. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development & Mechanization (PhilMech), has distributed P5-billion worth of farm machinery and equipment (FME) to qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs), according to PhilMech Director Baldwin Jallorina. 13,499 units of FME have been distributed to as many FCAs, benefitting at least 1.35 million rice farmers.

Credit
P1.584 billion has been lent to hundreds of FCAs under the RCEF Program, served by the Land Bank of the Philippines, at P968 million, and Development Bank of the Philippines, P616 million.

Extension

Tens of thousands of individual farmers and FCAs benefited through workshops, technical briefings, and trainings of specialists, trainors, farmers, seed growers and inspectors, and other extension intermediaries.

All that explains how 2,000,000 rice farmers have benefitted much from the DA!@517

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[1]https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Department-of-Agriculture-of-Republic-of-P-nbsp-RCEF-enables-rice-farmers-to-produce-and-earn--32667258/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=googlenews&utm_content=20210311

Maria Ressa’s Choice: Journalism For Development, Or Degradement?

Today, PH journalism is symbolized by Maria Ressa (inset), Head of the digital media group Rappler, Maria Ressa is so bold – and repeatedly so – against her President and mine, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, that she has landed on the universal hit list Time 100 Most Influential People, 2019[1]. Well? As a digital journalist myself, for as long as her 20 years, I envy her for the honor – but, I must say, hers is not my kind of journalism.

I subscribe to Development Journalism; perhaps hers is Degradement Journalism, where to “degrade” is “to lower in quality or value; make inferior or less valuable[2]” (American Heritage Dictionary). To simplify, Maria Ressa is anti-Duterte, while I am pro-détente; she ignores National Development, while I am all eyes and ears for it.

I say: Implemented, the War on Drugs is Sectoral; UN-implemented, the War on Poverty is National.

Years earlier, Vice President Leni Robredo pleaded with Mr Duterte: “Mr President… we ask you to focus on the war that really matters: the War on Poverty. Our people are hungry, jobless and poor” (Facebook, 24 February 2017).

We are focusing on the War on Drugs. On journalism focusing on the War on Poverty, UNESCO itself is ignoring it!

The bigger image above is from the cover of the 2018 UNESCO book titled Getting The Message Across and subtitled Reporting On Climate Change And Sustainable Development In Asia And The Pacific: A Handbook For Journalists (106 pages)[3].

Now, both Philippine Maria Ressa and the UNESCO book disappoint me for missing out on development that includes the poor.

The UNESCO book is all about climate change – nothing about changing the climate of poverty among the poor peoples of the world! All about developing the news, nothing about developing people subject to climate change.

On page 17 of the book, it states very promisingly:

Sustainable Development Goals – No One Left Behind

Heads of State, Government leaders, UN High Level Representatives and civil society met in September 2015 at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals… These 17 Goals represent a universal, ambitious, sustainable development agenda, an agenda of the people, by the people and for the people. At its core, is a pledge to leave no one behind. “Underpinning the renewed focus on inclusion and social justice is the realization that the benefits of social and economic progress have not been equitably shared.”   

But that is the closest that the UNESCO book comes to Development Journalism. On page 72, it lists “Ten Quick Tips For Better Stories,” and these are:

1. Know your audience.
2. Team up.
3. Localize the jargon.
4. Be visual.
5. Get a second opinion
6. Quote varied voices.
7. Get reactions.
8. Humanize, Humanize, Humanize.
9. Do justice to press releases.
10. Tell success stories.

UNESCO, where is the Journalism for Development there? Your climate change story is only about changing the physical climate and not the social climate of poverty; that is not Development Journalism at all!@517

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[1]https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019/

[2]https://www.thefreedictionary.com/degrade

[3]https://en.unesco.org/getting-the-message-across

The PH Farmer’s Un/Happy Formula

The Little/Big Trouble with PH farmers is that they grow rice without a Robust Sense of Profit & Loss. They do not keep records, as their parents did not teach them business-mindedness instead of simplemindedness – because they did not know themselves either. Poor families!
(Profit & Loss image[1] from BooksTime)

If we want to help emancipate the farmers from the slavery of poverty, here is one way to look at Agriculture with what I call:

The Farmer’s Happy Formula:
Low Costs + High Yield + Zero Harvest Losses +
High Market Price = High Income.

No, the Filipino Farmer doesn’t realize the whole of that, otherwise he would always invoke its magic. No, the Filipino Agriculturist doesn’t realize the whole of that either, otherwise he would teach it.

The realities are, what the Filipino farmer has inadvertently or unknowingly invoked always is:

The Farmer’s Unhappy Formula:
High Costs + Low Yield + Some Harvest Losses +
Low Market Price = Low Income.

Unhappily, neither the farmer nor agriculturist realize all those as belonging to a whole system that is disadvantageous to the farmer.

High Costs

High costs of inputs: seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, weedicides? No problem! The farmer can make a fast loan with someone who has ready cash anytime. (Never mind that it’s usurious.)

Low Yield

When the farmer transplants 1-month old seedlings, or older, overcrowded in zigzag rows with hills not equidistant from each other – that cannot but result in lower yield. But he doesn’t know! Nobody tells him!

Some Harvest Losses

Not using the harvester results in loss of grains from careless humans. In drying over concrete, workers do not retrieve all the grains they lay to dry. If they repeat the drying, they repeat the loss.

Low Market Price

The farmer sells to the middleman who fixes the market to as low a price as possible without looking like a villain. S/he will say, “That’s the prevailing price. We can’t do anything about it.”

Low Income

The result of all of the above? Unsustainable income for the farmer. So he borrows again from the usurer to tide the family until the next harvest season!

Best Income

What can the PH Department of Agriculture (DA) do to save the farmer from his ignorance and help his family escape from poverty and live a sustainable life?

#1: Affordable loans– Government banks extend farmer loans with farmer-friendly interests.

#2: Supervised planting – Farm technicians see to it that the rice seedlings are planted in square patterns, 1 seedling/hill. Seedlings will then produce more tillers, resulting in heavier yields.

#3: Mechanized harvesting – To avoid losses of grains at harvest time, the best harvester is a combine, which also helps bag the grains.

#4: Assisted drying – The DA helps farmer groups acquire mechanical dryers, to reduce labor and losses.

#5: Assisted marketing – This is the most crucial of all the steps in rice farming. The farmer must belong to a group that will help him market his produce, or store it until the price is right.

All that is doing the farmer right!@517

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[1]https://www.bookstime.com/the-accounting-equation

Calling For Revolutionary Education In Teenage PH/World – Artificial Intelligence (AI) Vs Authentic Intelligence (AI2)

Anywhere in the world as far as teenage education is concerned, from the wide fields of Agriculture to the vast territories of World Literature, what “Abot Tala Self-Directed Learning Center for Teens” (Abot Tala) in PH is doing in terms of teaching teenagers from 12-18, is a good start!

Months before the pandemic lockdown, I was talking with Joie Villarama, innovative owner of Abot Tala, about introducing Internet-based learning via school-based laptops to her teenager learners, donations considered. Today, she has students working & studying at the same time at home: above, boy with laptop & girl with cellphone (images[1] from Abot Tala Facebook page). Domestic activity, domestic tranquility!

Teaching teenagers, Abot Tala is now showing us educators what we can do with our hands tied and classrooms closed by over-zealous government regulators.

Next, Abot Tala must step up more boldly and graduate from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to what I call Authentic Intelligence (AI²). AI is mechanical, machine-generated; while AI² is mental, learner mind-generated.

Am I saying Authentic Intelligence versus Artificial Intelligence? No. AI is Man motioning Machine for the mechanical transfer of knowledge; AI² is Man (Mind) learning via Machine (Menu) out of the knowledge available via AI. Teaching via AI alone is teaching memorizing, not understanding. (Definitions from American Heritage Dictionary: Authentic: “Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief[2]” Artificial: not natural, imitative.) Understanding relationships is learning; Mere transfer of knowledge even via intellectual muscle is not learning!

Today, at Abot Tala, the process of presenting learning materials is intelligent (AI), but the procedure of teaching learning is not yetAI². The unseen problem is that Abot Tala teachers are teaching mechanical repetition, not teaching thinking.

Yes! Abot Tala’s “Self-Directed Learning” must be via thinking, not simply taking in. The school’s “Interest-Led Learning” must be carried out with the schooler learning thinking anywhere from A to Z: analyzing, comparing, deducing, dividing, matching, or synchronizing whatever. The Abot Tala teacher should allow individual differences and not force the students to learn exactly the same things the same way!

I love it that Abot Tala says about its “Summer Block” 22 March to 21 May, 2021:

This program is ideal for teens who are looking for a community that encourages Interest-Led Learning. We welcome teen homeschoolers, unschoolers, and those who are taking a break or gap year, especially during this global pandemic.

Abot Tala says further:

We’ve set up a virtual Abot Tala teen center on Slack. Think of it as a teen hub where teens get to hang out to chat, share music, art, book and video finds, and more through the different non-class channels where they can talk to the teens and mentors in our community anytime they want to.

I am a teacher by profession, PH Civil Service Professional Level –by choice & self-study an indefatigable blogger for digital education. This Teacher now says, “Ma’am Joei Villarama, that arrangement of the virtual Tala Teen Center at Slack is (almost) the way to go!”@517

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/AbotTalaPH/photos/2796331337276011
[2]https://www.thefreedictionary.com/authentic

Choose Right: Fight, Flight, Or Fright? How To Conquer Your Fear

Humor can save your sanity yet! Certainly, the continuing un/cultivated scare about the coronavirus complicated with the lockdown, has been causing people either to choose to fight, take flight, or cower in fright.

Many years ago, not yet married, probably 1965, I almost lost my mind! I had been kicked out of UP Los Baños (Extreme Delinquent), was silently but publicly insulted, resulting in my breaking off with my girlfriend – family pride destroyed, personal pride shattered.

Fortunately, there was a psychiatrist of sort in town, Asingan in Pangasinan, and he saved me from the jaws of mental death. Literally. But I was still mentally disturbed and had difficulty sleeping at night – until I read in a book of psychology, being a wide reader, that I had to “confront my fear.”

That was 36 years before the Internet came to the Philippines. Today, you can read many books and/or articles about the many ways of how to “Confront Your Fear.” I will mention one source here, but I want to tell you right now that I have kept my sanity because I am a creative person. I cannot run out of topics to write about, or I do not have to repeat my formula for writing because I am an original aboriginal – Ilocano. A quote from British wit Oscar Wilde is a great help to me in my inventiveness:

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist sees the hole!
(Doughnut & quote image[1] from Donut Magic)

If you see humor, you’re all right!

You are also okay if you are an optimist:
You can see Opportunity where others see Obstruction.
You can see Option where others see Obstacles.
You can see Donuts where others see only Holes!

Now: What do you do when you cannot be an optimist? Listen to what a friend told Damisok (28 October 2016, “How To Confront Your Fears (Explained)[2],” BTS Media Blog):

You need to look deep within yourself and separate yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself.

The Worrier You versus the Better You. Damisok says:

Fear is not a sign of abnormality or weakness… Fear is a healthy feeling. It is the brain’s reaction when overwhelmed by an unpleasant situation. Being fearless is basically leveraging fear. It is knowing how to manage fear so it doesn’t overwhelm you.

Damisok advises you:

#10. Get a mentor or a life coach.
#09. Read a book.
#08. Watch an inspirational movie.
#07. Tell yourself a story.
#06. Talk about it to someone.
#05. Change your thinking – eliminate the negatives.
#04. Write it down.
#03. Speak positive words out aloud to yourself.
#02. Show some gratitude.
#01. Go out and do something. The more you do something, the better you become at it and the more confidence you gain.

My single advice is: Do something good for others. That has been my advice to myself in the last 45 years: I write good for others.@517

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/Donutmagic/photos/

[2]https://btsmediablog.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/how-to-confront-your-fears-explained/

“PH Agriculturists To Blame For Poor PH Agriculture!” – EQJ. What We Have To Do

Here is National Scientist & former UP President & former UPLB Chancellor Emil Q Javier (EQJ) blaming PH agriculturists for the problems of PH Agriculture upon being awarded Doctor of Laws honoris causa during the 112^th Anniversary Celebration of his alma mater (and mine), the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), afternoon of 06 March 2021:
(EQJ image[1] from Twitter)

In plain language, UP Los Baños, we, as individuals and collectively, are part and source of the inadequacies of our agriculture. We must candidly and with full humility accept we (are) part of the problem.

Repeat: EQJ says we are part of the problem!

We have nobody to point to but us in the mirror. In fact, this is the first time we looked into the mirror.

What can we do now? First, test yourself now. Focusing on the lower image: Are you looking at the sunrise or the sunset of PH Agriculture?[2]

I am the Optimist of Oscar Wilde who sees the Doughnut and not the Hole, so I take heart when EQJ says:

The rest of my message this afternoon has to do with what I believe are the urgent reforms UPLB as an institution has to undertake to make our agriculture industry not just more productive and more competitive but more specifically to improve the well-being of the majority of the small producers, i.e., to lift the bottom half.

EQJ then enumerates “six reforms or re-directions (that) the University has to undertake to push our agriculture forward,” and these are:

(1) reinforcing the social sciences in the campus,

(2) elaboration of schemes to consolidate our small farms into more efficient, larger management units,

(3) re-orientation from production, supply-push efforts into demand-, market-driven supply chains plans and programs; active participation in the crafting of industry road maps, and enhancement and diversification of exports,

(4) more efforts in value-adding and food and beverage manufacturing,

(5) managing the trade-offs between farming intensification and care of the environment, and

(6) development and adoption of the new disrupting technologies but biasing them to suit the needs and purposes of small farmers.

The way I look at it:

#1: “Reinforcing the social sciences in the campus” – we must wake up UPLB economists and sociologists ignoring teaching social responsibilities.

#2: “Elaboration of schemes to consolidate our small farms” – “United we stand, divided we fail!”

#3: “Reorientation… to demand-, market-driven supply chains” – we study what the market wants, not only what the farmers want to grow.

#4: “Value-adding and food & beverage manufacturing” – we need to make new food products to sell.

#5: “Trade-offs between farming and caring of the environment” – we have to stop abusing the soil.

#6: “New disrupting technologies to suit the needs of small farmers” – we must make the small beautiful!

I will add only that this is the Modern Age of Knowledge – UPLB scientists can do all those via eye-opening digital media!@517

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[1]https://twitter.com/ipbuplb/status/1046916479113814016

[2]If you want the facts, the sun-hint image was taken by me 18Sept2010 at 06:37:02 hours, or 6 AM.

UPLB, Where Has All Your Extension Gone? Gone To Flowers Everyone! When Will They Ever Learn?

What do you mean “Extension”? Here is “Dean Umali’s Rule” as his colleagues remember it[1]: “When a farmer visits your office, stop everything you are doing and give him his due attention, for he is the primary commitment of your being in this institution.”

What is known as “UPCA’s Golden Age of Extension” is 1959 to 1969, when Dioscoro L Umali was Dean of UPCA – that is according to Louise Sigrid Antonio et al writing 25 May 2014, “Dioscoro L Umali,” in their blog The Heat Ray Of Archimedes). I was Freshman at UPCA when he became Dean in 1959; later, I remember UPCA agronomists really busy with national extension projects involving rice and corn. (top image[2] from Philippine Science Heritage Center, Facebook)

On 20 November 1972, through Presidential Decree 58, the UP System was created, with UPLB as one of the universities in the system. Unfortunately, while the college UPCA grew intothe university UP Los Baños, the Extension function grew out of the university until it disappeared! (education-research-extension image[3] from FAO.org)

Never out of contact with the university over the years, I believe such disappearance was not by design but by the absence of an extension leader like Dean Umali.

From the OVCRE webpage[4], even as I remember it as an UPCA student 1959-1964 (I stopped for 1 year), UPCA/UPLB has a tripartite function: Instruction, Research, and Extension. To quote:

Though instruction was considered as UPLB’s major function, research was also recognized as an equally important function. Extension… was viewed as a function that showed UPLB’s relevance in the development of the countryside. Knowledge gained through research, imparting it through instruction, and applying it as public service are all efforts, directed towards the development of the whole man.

Yes, “Extension” is still mentioned, such as in the above – but there is not one Extension project extant!

Oh, I just found that there is an office called “Office of Extension Coordination” – but it is under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs! That explains why Extension is no longer given equal emphasis as Instruction (Academic Affairs) and Research (Research & Development).

On the website https://uplb.edu.ph/, the tabs that show are:

[Home] [About] [Admission] [Academics] [Research] [On Campus] [Downloads]

Do you notice what is missing in that UPLB list? It is missing because it is hardly/not performing that function when it should! [Extension]. The 3 functions of UP Los Baños, or any of the constituent universities of the UP System are: Instruction, Research, and Extension.

Everyone connected any which way with the University of the Philippines Los Baños has forgotten the university’s role in Extension. Let me repeat here Dean Umali’s Rule:

When a farmer visits your office, stop everything you are doing and give him his due attention, for he is the primary commitment of your being in this institution.

UPLB, sorry to say this, but in forgetting to do your Extension, you are forgetting the farmer who is your ultimate student!@517

 

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[1]http://archimedesheatray.blogspot.com/2014/05/group-5-dioscoro-umali.html

[2]https://www.facebook.com/pshc2013/photos/a.366129906791602/2814422555295646/?type=3

[3]http://www.fao.org/3/y2709e/y2709e05.htm

[4]https://ovcre.uplb.edu.ph/about/r-e-uplb/three-fold-function