“16 Things An Agripreneur Should Always Bear In Mind”

Nestor V Saludo shared this one on Facebook: “16 Things An Agripreneur Should Always Bear In Mind[1]" (21 June 2021, OnePropertee), written by Lubar De Los Reyes who is a multi-millionaire selling real estate online. That means he knows his business!

I find Mr De Los Reyes’ thoughts super, and I think PH youth wanting to become agripreneurs could learn from him, from each of:

16 Things An Agripreneur Should Always Bear In Mind

To keep this essay short, I am presenting Mr De Los Reyes’ “16 Things” in a shorter form (yet still word-for-word from his list):

1. Be passionate about your agri-business.

2. Talk to your customers. Know what they want.

3. Learning is a lifelong process. Remember that Agripreneurs are dealing with livestock, weather and environment. These affect everyday decisions.

4. Learn and master the art of costing.

5. Have a quarterly check on your finance.

6. Your farm products should meet the highest quality standards and exceed customer expectations.

7. Ask your customers for their feedback.

8. Always set a competitive price and be reasonable in your mark-up.

9. Never ever spend all your profits.

10. Give back to the community. Farming is sharing.

11. Pay your farm hands fairly and on time. They are the lifeblood of your farm.

12. Create and nurture your own brand.

13. Always update the inventory of your stocks and equipment.

14. Grow your business by learning new technologies, processes, innovations and create a wider network.

15. Opportunities are endless in farming and agriculture; always be on the lookout.

16. Love your farm. Love yourself. Love your farm hands.

Let me explain the 16 a little bit.

Be passionate. You’re not now, but don’t worry. Get to know more your would-be business and you will become passionate!

Talk to your prospective customers. Or anyone, about your ideas – you could learn a thing or two from them.

Learning is lifelong. Be prepared to learn & re-learn always.

Master the art of costing. You have to know if you are gaining or losing anytime!

Check your balance quarterly. Don’t guess!

Your products should be of the highest quality. Don’t settle for “Puede na!” (Good enough!)

Ask for feedback  from anyone, on anything.

Be competitive. Be reasonable in pricing your product(s).

Don’t spend all your earnings. Save, save, save!

Give back to the community. And the community will love you more.

Pay your workers fairly. And your workers will love you more.

Create & nurture your brand. You will then be known far and wide by the brand you keep.

Update your inventory. Know how much and how many you have anytime.

Learn new things. Like technologies, processes, innovations. You will learn more if you have a network of friends.

Be always on the lookout for opportunities. Don’t rest on your laurels.

Love one, love all. Love your farm, yourself, your people!

All those 16 things Mr Delos Reyes advises for an agripreneur to apply should also be applicable to any farmer who wants to improve his farmer’s life.@517

 

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[1]https://onepropertee.com/16-agripreneur-bear-mind-topic?refId=jLKH9BdKEefRoc27C

Specially In This New Age Of Webinars, Presentation Must Lead To Communication!

Webinars here, webinars there: The institutional as well as individual excitements are on! when it comes to appearing online as a guest lecturer or speaker in a special webcast. Good – and Bad.

Above image shows one of the photo albums included in “UPLB Today” Facebook page (shared by NJ Anastacio). Readable entries are “CBSUA Academic Affairs And Policy Summit 2021” and “University of the Philippines Los Baños added 18 new photos to the album #UPLB Today.” CBSUA is the Central Bicol State University located in San Jose, Pili, Camarines Sur, Southern Luzon.

Exactly! What is the CBSUA image doing in a UPLB Facebook page is not explicit – notimplicit either. #UPLB Today has quite a number of those albums – each one without title and without description. Someone slipping on the job.

The above cluttered image reflects what I call “This New Age Of Webinars” – good for personal exposure, not-so-good for science or knowledge gained being transferred from one person to many – because there is hardly any attempt to communicate, that is, to make the non-technical people understand “scientific language.”

Like: A technical presentation via PowerPoint is made – but there is no effort of the presenter to translate the knowledge into something memorable, something familiar.

Apropos to this, let me tell you I am a UPLB alumnus, BSA Ag Edu ’65, a teacher with a Civil Service Professional license. Which should imply my double interests in studying and teaching. Sometime in 1980, I invented what I called “Communication for Development (ComDev),” which was intentionally my personal statement on the value of UPLB Professor Nora Quebral’s concept of “Development Communication(DevCom).” While ComDev is explicit communication to promote the development of villages; DevCom does not mention development as an aim.

Professor Nora’s DevCom is “science presentation” – that’s all. That phrase in quotes precisely describes the webinars here and there in the Philippines: Roughly, each webinar is 90% Presentation, 10% Communication. 90% to impress, 10% to express.

Clearly, to me a digital writer (blogger) and editor (desktop publisher) in the last 34 years, since 1987, current presentations for PH webinars must be rewritten & edited to be 90% popular and 10% technical in language.

So now let me ask: In those PH webinars, what are experts and/or resource persons communicating? Their acquired sets of knowledge and/or their specialties in any of the sciences. Now, who remembers what is being said in any of those webinars? My generous guess is 10 among 100 – and then again, vaguely. Why because those presenters of papers and/or new knowledge have not been priorly made conscious of the need for less presentation in technical language, and more communication in popular language.

So today, webinars are good for presenters, not learners!

If you want to graduate from presentation of science or knowledge to communication, without paying for an editor, you can get ideas simply reading my blog:

BraveNewWorld@PH
(bravenewworldph.blogspot.com)

Sorry to say: Today’s reality with PH webinars is that they are 90% Presentation and only 10% Communication. It should be the other way around.@517

ASF – Asian Swine Fund Of P500 Million From PH ACPC

"Pigs are smart little creatures. They just need love" said Shelley Duvall, American actress famous for playing eccentric roles. In PH, much needed love comes now in the form of a new ASF (Asian Swine Fund, my coinage) – commercially needed considering the threat of the old ASF (Asian Swine Fever).

(pig image[1] from eCompareMo)

On Saturday, 12 June 2021, observed as “Philippine Independence Day,” the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) independently brought out much love for the little creatures recently beleaguered and still threatened with the original ASF (Asian Swine Fever): “ACPC Allots P500M To Revive Hog Industry[2]” (Leander C Domingo, Manila Times). I note that the ACPC released quite a big fund for a single animal: Action (with amount) speaks louder than words!

Domingo said the ACPC “has allotted initial funding of P500,000,000 (million) for swine projects of small enterprises, including start-up commercial hog raisers.” Note that it said, “initial funding.” There’s more where that came from.

The good news was announced in Ilagan City in Isabela in Northern Luzon, during the rollout of the “Swine R3 Credit Program” (Swine R3) hosted by Isabela Governor Rodolfo Albano III. Swine R3 is a partnership of the DA (via the ACPC), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), and Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) Philippines. Charoen Pokphand is based in Thailand, which is why I call it the Asian Swine Fund.

Secretary of Agriculture William Dar led the launching of the funding program, with Emmanuel Herbosa, President & Chief Executive Officer of DBP, in attendance. The DBP is one of the Partner Lending Conduits (PLCs) of ACPC. Mr Herbosa said during the occasion that by itself DBP had allotted about P12,000,000,000 (billion) in loans for commercial hog raisers.

All the world loves pork!

The Swine R3 program is DBP’s newest loan facility. “R3” refers to Repopulation, Rehabilitation and Recovery, “to ensure the continuous supply and availability of swine and pork products, and to stabilize pork prices in the country.” Healthy animals, healthy industry.

Mr Herbosa said:

Under the (Swine R3 Program), DBP will provide funding assistance to eligible public and private institutions to establish bio-secured swine farm products. With concerted efforts, we will be able to grow a local swine industry so that we can better meet consumer demand and we can achieve more stable pork prices in the Philippine market.

He was also thinking of swine diseases. He said, "We are collaborating with CPF to ensure the viability of implementing biosecurity measures to further assist eligible swine investor-partners,"

Mr Herbosa noted that “for the public sector, DBP can provide the financing for the establishment of consolidated swine facilities so local government units can consolidate backyard hog raisers in their municipalities and provinces.” Consolidated swine facilities for better business.

Ah, but the Swine R3 program does not say it is at the expense of Philippine native pigs. I say, the native pigs are millions of pesos cheaper to produce, and their meats taste millions nicer. I hope the ACPC will come up with a separate funding soon!@517

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[1]https://www.ecomparemo.com/info/fast-facts-african-swine-fever

[2]https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/06/12/business/corporate-news/acpc-allots-p500m-to-revive-hog-industry/1802901?fbclid=IwAR2dfvLPDbZ-2YCvHf0yJa5utOfaq4LWDfFXJ657EfOvChdlYZWJjhJed6Y

Lazy Juan’s Formula For “Instant Fertilizer, Organic” – For Happier Farming, Healthier Food, Half Cost, Higher Income!

Actually, I have already given the necessary steps of my Lazy Juan’s Formula for “instant fertilizer, organic (IFO)” – new name: “Lazy Juan’s Organic Farming For Pinoys – The More You Think, The More You Earn![1]” (21 June 2021, Brave New World).

My IFO is different from the “indigenous microorganisms” (IMO) that is popular at UPLB, and which Real Organic claims is “the best organic fertilizer[2]” (YouTube). This is what s/he says:

In this video, I will show you how to make a very effective and cost-wise organic fertilizer for your gardens. The fertilizer is called Indigenous Micro-organisms or IMO in short. This will act as a soil conditioner and can make the soil (fertile) again. It can also be used to (make) compost for fast decomposition. It's very easy and fun to do.

Actually, the fertilizer is not called “IMO” – the IMO are the microorganisms that convert the dead plant tissues into organic matter. That means, it takes days before you can apply the IMO-treated plant matter as organic fertilizer.

Nota Bene: I call mine “Instant Fertilizer, Organic” because, really, it becomes organic fertilizer the moment you create it! So, IFO vs IMO. Same results: naturally healthier soil, naturally healthier crop.

For IFO, you rotavate a field filled with grass, better with the crop refuse still there – and instantly, the vegetative matter that has been cut to pieces along with the soil begins to decay because of the attack (actually, feeding) of organisms from the soil (that is, all organisms disturbed), especially bacteria, fungi, earthworms, bugs, insects. Their feeding results in the release of nutrients into the soil from the vegetative matter – so immediately, from my IFO you have organic fertilizer there!

Above, lower image, the field is waiting to be worked on. I am just a visitor there, not the owner. But it’s a good piece of conversation, because it’s waiting for the farmer to work on it. My shadow is long, by which I would like to tell you that this IFO story actually I have been telling for many years, the earliest recorded I can find on the Internet being 13 years ago, dated 16 December 2008 (see “2^nd Red Revolution! Red Nuts Grow On Badlands[3],” iCRiSAT Watch). I said in that essay, writing about American Ohio gentleman farmer Edward H Faulkner and his book Plowman’s Folly:

Plowman’s Folly (published in 1943) taught me, among other things, that one could build a rich soil from a poor one by continuously incorporating crop refuse into the topsoil, along with minimizing cultivation, thereby simulating the natural cycle of death and life of organisms, something the plowman has either ignored or rejected. His farming method is a modification of green manuring, which every farmer should know anyway.

“Instant Fertilizer, Organic (IFO)” is an original name from a Filipino agriculturist & extensionist; the concept is modified from an American farmer – I added the rotavating. A good idea made better!@517

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[1]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2021/06/lazy-juans-organic-farming-for-pinoys.html

[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZxKaU7kL4E

[3]http://icrisatwatch.blogspot.com/2008/12/2nd-red-revolution.html

Lazy Juan’s Organic Farming For Pinoys – The More You Think, The More You Earn!

Main image above: On Facebook, Felipe Gabrielclaims planting rice “Achieving More With Less!“ 15 tons/ha. Applying: 20 bags processed chicken manure, rice straw from last cropping season, spraying IMO Probiotics at tillering, booting & milking stages; zero petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Inbred rice, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), in Sulop, Davao Del Sur.

Here is our exchange on Facebook:

Frank A Hilario
I can beat that if somebody will finance 1 ha… no fertilizers, no compost, no manures, no probiotics!

Felipe Gabriel
Frank A Hilario Wow, breakthrough Yan sir!
Subukan natin sir yang technology mo! Sa Aking sariling farm.

Mr Gabriel’s farm is in Paniqui, Tarlac, and hereby I accept his challenge. This is an outline of my

Lazy Juan’s Organic Farming
(Above, superimposed image taken 12 July 2016, my blanket having composed itself into a lazy human! posterized)

Strict instructions (actually practiced by someone in Asingan, Pangasinan):

Step 1.     Preparing:
Harvest crop, take out of field. Leave crop refuse; don’t burn. Don’t weed either: the weedier, the better. The secret is in the weeds! After Step 2, they will start decaying into fertilizer.

Step 2.     Rotavating.
Use tractor with rotavator or rototiller blades – not plow. Set blades to cut down to only 2-3 inches of topsoil, not deeper. Thus: Soil, crop refuse and weeds will be cut into pieces and mixed in one rotary motion – giving you a surface mulch all over 10,000 sqm (1 ha)! Lazy Juan’s rotavating is automatic mulching.

Step 3.     Direct seeding.
Plant inbred rice seeds directly, 25 x 25 cm. Before planting, string out distances for planting uniformly – or use a mechanical seeder. So, zero cost: nursery bed preparation, women pulling seedlings for transplanting, men transplanting.

Step 4.     Side seeding.
On the same day you plant the seeds, you will sow a few seeds below the dikes, for replanting any missing hills later; this is to ensure that all seedlings will mature simultaneously.

Step 5.     Replanting missing hills.
Inspect the field everyday for at least 1 week after planting, to replant any dead or missing hills – in case.

Step 6.     Irrigation.
With your ricefield covered with mulch that is slowly rotting and becoming organic fertilizer in-place every day from Step 2, the soil will be moist enough for the rice to grow. In case the soil gets dry, be ready to irrigate for a day.

Step 7.     Field Care & Watching.
No fertilizing – that surface mulch is the richest fertilizer ever! Visit ricefield weekly to check on the seedlings growing. Do not spray against any pest or disease organism; since your rice plants are rich in nutrients from the soil, they are healthy and can withstand any pest or disease attack.

Step 8.     Harvesting.
Use a rice combine to minimize loss of grains.

Step 9.     Postharvest Handling.
Get a mechanical dryer – never dry on public roads!

Step 10.  Storage.
Store dried rice properly. Your coop should have a storage facility.

Step 11.  Marketing.
Your cooperative should do it for you.

Happier farming, healthier food, higher income!@517

Happy Father’s Day, Secretary Of Agriculture William Dar!

Above, from Facebook the caption reads: “DA Urges LGUs, Farmers Groups, Private Sector To Help Transform Phl Agri Sector[1]” (21 May 2021, Frances May Ramos, DA.gov.ph). As Secretary, that is how William Dar is behaving as the Father of Philippine Agriculture today!

Mr Secretary, you have an archipelagic-family size now. You have come a very long way. From 1999 to 2014, as Director General, you were the Virtual Father of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in India. From dead last, with your fathership, you brought ICRISAT to #1 among 15 international agricultural research centers under the umbrella of the CGIAR, including IRRI based in the Philippines. You did it via your Team Captainship. Your Family is your Team.

Today, you have been the Servant Leader of Philippine Agriculture since 05 August 2019. You brought in with you what you called “The New Thinking for Agriculture” with 8 paradigms to build a new intelligent structure for national development via agriculture & fisheries:

As the news cited in the above image says, you called “for a sustained and stronger ‘public-private-people’ partnership to lead the transformation of Philippine agriculture and respond to the pandemic and other challenges.”

The two-day (NFSS) summit brought together dozens of key agri-fishery industry players, resource persons, economists, and national and local leaders, and more than 6,000 participants at the online workshops, in a blended physical and virtual platform.

A concerned huge family meeting!

One of the individual members of your Huge Family, former National Economic and Development Authority Director General and Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Cielito F Habito said during one of the NFSS plenary sessions: “Agriculture is too important to be left alone to the Department of Agriculture.” Yes, and that is why your fathering Philippine Agriculture highly values, in your words, “public-private-people partnership.”

You yourself said:

Armed with the updated commodity industry roadmaps, we can encourage and convince the private sector, including interested foreign companies, to invest in the country’s agri-fisheries sector.

As the Father of a Huge, Huge Family, you have good, abiding members; you have bright-thinking members – you also have recalcitrant members who listen only to themselves.

You said:

The perfect storm of 2020 has demonstrated the agriculture sector’s resilience, and reducing poverty remains an enormous multi-sectoral challenge. There is hunger because most people, due to the pandemic, loss of jobs and livelihood, cannot simply buy food, despite (the fact that) food is available.

If this phenomenon is not understood and appreciated by detractors, they will always blame the Department of Agriculture. We beg to disagree, as hunger and poverty (are problems) that we have been addressing, even before the Duterte administration.

I want to emphasize the fact: “Before Duterte.” Your family members are some big guys themselves, difficult to either sway or dissuade – the local government units (LGUs), farmer groups, private sector – but they are family, and life must go on as one Huge Family.

Nobody is perfect. You insist on the Whole-Of-Nation Approach. That makes you perfect as the Father of Philippine Agriculture today!@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-urges-lgus-farmers-groups-private-sector-to-help-transform-phl-agri-sector/?fbclid=IwAR2kjEW66h0g18wOo1RNGQPQKPLLKyr-N1HAKB3zTKGrsIgFNguvOvNN8AE

Thinking 2021 Of Jose Rizal, First Thinking Filipino

How would you like a new & different look of (above) – and a new book (mine) on our National Hero Jose Rizal?! For your pdf copy of my new Rizal book, free,email frankahilario@gmail.com, my way of paying tribute to my hero and yours.

Above image: I googled for images of “Jose Rizal” and saw that[1], by Giga Art (name not revealed); that should make us all think as idealists, young and old.

My new book, titled Jose Rizal As First Thinking Filipino, is my latest tribute to the National Hero and my first offering to the Filipino Youth, whom Rizal looked at as “Beautiful hope of my Fatherland!” (“Bella esperanza de la patria mia!”)

This is the 2nd edition of my book – old title, indios bravos! Jose Rizal, Messiah Of The Redemption. Since JR was born 19 June 1861, if he were alive, that would make him 159 years old 19 June 2021. You know what? My book is 159 pages long! That should make us all think; there are no coincidences.

Angel Number[2] says:

159 spiritually means that you have the power to push yourself to the bright future you desire. Besides, if you want to become something you admire, then you have to be ready to face your fears. Basically, you should be your only competition because you can take yourself to a future you want.

Those 53 words above are true even if you do not believe in Angel Numbers.

“Basically, you should be your only competition because you can take yourself to a future you want.” Now, what is the future we want as Filipinos following the ideals of our National Hero?

The number 159 meaning signifies the end of certain phases in your life and the opening of new doors to new experiences. These experiences will lead you to your desired destiny. You have to be willing to let parts of your old life go so that you can embrace new experiences.

Now then, that is a labor of love by Giga Art I don’t know how long it took him; it has been a labor of love for me rewriting my Rizal book first published in 2005. Jose Rizal is the “First Thinking Filipino” because he was the first to think of the disparate tribes of the Philippines as one people, one country, with one homeland.

You cannot say Rizal “awakened the latent nationalism of the Filipinos” because there was none in the beginning; rather, he wrote enough. said enough, suffered enough to bring about oneness in mind among his people.

Actually he started when he was just 8 years old, writing “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” (“To The Kids Of My Own Time” – my translation is in the book). This poem has a surprise in it; we all thought it was about “wika” (“language”), but it is a poem and is using a figure of speech; this time, “wika” refers to “freedom.” Read my book!

Yes, Jose Rizal at 8 years of age was already the First Thinking Filipino!@517

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[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaOFV2C4_8o

[2]https://www.sunsigns.org/angel-number-159-meaning/