Golden Rice – Tradition Viewing Modern Genetic Mapping By Scientists

“Golden Rice” is applied science solving an international nutritional problem. In PH, it remains controversial because of protestations as well as civil suits from scientists and activists. Is it in good sense?

It’s Asian. In fact, “Bangladesh Could Be The First To Cultivate Golden Rice, Genetically Altered To Fight Blindness[1]” (Erik Storkstad, 20 November 2019, Science). India has much earlier been seeking to cultivate the crop (Priya Abraham, 13 November 2016, “Nobel Laureate Calls For Golden Rice In India[2]”).

Already, it’s “Golden Rice Season In Vietnam[3]” (lower image from Photos.com). The Vietnamese must know something Filipinos don’t!

Based in the Philippines and with joint funding from the Bill Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and US Agency for International Development, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) had developed “Golden Rice” in order “to complement existing interventions to address vitamin A deficiency (VAD). VAD is a serious public health problem affecting millions of children and pregnant women globally[4].”
(“Choose Your Rice” image from IRRI website).

In the Philippines, some groups have submitted a joint “Petition For Review” or “an administrative appeal (on) the Biosafety Permits issued by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) for ‘Golden Rice’ and ‘BT Eggplant.’” The specific objections are that, “without proper study,” the BPI had issued: (1) Biosafety Permit for field trial and later (2) for direct use, food, and feed for those genetically modified crops.

On the point of “biosafety,” the petitioners argue that the introduced genes may transfer to other crops and result in unnatural crops or products.

I say if that happens, we can always replace the unnaturally modified crops with the genes the scientific world is protecting in gene/cryo banks.

The PH petitioners submitted a Letter-Opposition on 08 August 2019 to the Department of Health (DoH) “calling for the stoppage of the field trials of Golden Rice because the latest study from India confirms that not only is the beta-carotene content in Golden Rice negligible, but degrades so quickly that farmers need to ‘vacuum-pack’ the unmilled rice to extend the beta-carotene shelf life.”

I say you can improve the shelf life with improved technology.

On the point of nutrition-based health, I say the home consumption of Golden Rice can be regulated by the families themselves with the help of local representatives of the DoH.

About Golden Rice degrading rapidly during storage and cooking – that can be remedied by improved postharvest keeping and nutrition-aware cooking.

About Golden Rice being expensive – If that is so, all you have to do is let it be, because Golden Rice becomes the ultimate argument against itself!

“Golden Rice is intended to be used in combination with existing approaches to overcome (vitamin A deficiency), including eating foods that are naturally high in vitamin A or beta-carotene, eating foods fortified with vitamin A, taking vitamin A supplements, and optimal breastfeeding practices[5] (undated, “Golden Rice,” IRRI.org).

My new blog’s name is “Tradition, Science & Sense….. TRASS/Trass.” Trass says Golden Rice is science trying to make saner sense of the world!@517

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[1]https://www.science.org/news/2019/11/bangladesh-could-be-first-cultivate-golden-rice-genetically-altered-fight-blindness

[2]https://www.telegraphindia.com/odisha/nobel-laureate-calls-for-golden-rice-in-india/cid/1475374

[3]https://photos.com/featured/golden-rice-season-in-vietnam-nng-thanh-ton--500px.html?product=duvet-cover

[4]https://www.irri.org/golden-rice

[5]https://www.irri.org/golden-rice

Introducing – Frank A Hilario, “The Happy Blogger Who Talks Trass!”

September is my birth month; on the 17^th, Friday, I will be 81 – and I must not forget to thank God! I have been asking Him to let me live up to 120 – at least 100!

The above image states the date (in 2018) and suggests “1940” when I was born. I am beginning to celebrate with a new blog, where you are reading this: Tradition, Science & Sense (Trass), https://traditionsciencesense.blogspot.com. This is the first essay of The Happy Blogger Who Talks Trass! (See outline of face above?)

The Hilarios are Roman Catholics. As was required by the parish priest at that time, the name of a newborn came from the Roman Catholic calendar, that of the saint that birth day, and the 17^th of September is the Feast of the Stigmata of St Francis. Localized, the name “Francisco Hilario” was registered in the archives of the Roman Catholic Church of my hometown Asingan in eastern Pangasinan.

“Francisco” did not last very long because in Elementary, when I wrote my name “Francisco Hilario” on top of the Grade 1 paper, the designated line-space was too short! Solution? My father Lakay Disiong (Dionisio Hilario) requested Mrs Bautista to change my recorded name from “Francisco” (9 letters) to “Frank” (5 letters), and she consented. Problem solved. “Frank” was the name of an American soldier who became a family friend during World War 2.

2021. I have been writing essays more than half of my life. Based on the “Multiple Intelligences” theory of Howard Gardner, I have Linguistic Intelligence, which I would consider “idea smart” rather than “word smart” – an essay is not a list of words as in a dictionary but a string of ideas expressed in one’s own manner or style of language.

I will tell you now how I discovered my smart. I attended a private high school, the HS Dept of the Rizal Junior College (RJC), located in the town proper of our hometown. Asingan is mostly Ilocanos, migrants from the Ilocos Region. Even before Grade 1, I had already found that I loved reading the Ilocano monthly magazine Bannawag, but it was in the RJC Library that I discovered I loved more the English language. The RJC had the whole downstairs of a medium-sized house turned into a library, full of books and magazines, British and American classics, and the American magazines I liked: LOOK, TIME, Newsweek, and the Reader's Digest. I particularly enjoyed reading the classics and the Digest.

In 4^th Year High, our Tagalog teacher Ms Constancia E Cruz gave a writing contest to find out who should be the Tagalog Editor of the RJC Newsletter proposed, and I won – surprise! This Ilocano won over the pure and lovers of Tagalog! When I found I had won, I said to myself, more or less, this: “So this is where my talent lies. I will be the best writer I can be!”

At almost 81, after blogging at least 5 million words since 2005, I can tell you that I fulfilled that self promise.@517

With Govt Limits To Growth, Cut! The Privatization Of Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center

Government must serve business interests, at the same time make sure that the commerce serves the common good of the consumers.

Madelaine B Mirafloris happy to report: “BAPTC To Spin Into Corporation To Provide Farmers, Traders More Services, Bigger Income[1]” (16 June 2021, DA.gov.ph). The government-run Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) in La Trinidad, Benguet, will become a corporation.

How good has the trading center been? Ms Madelaine says:

During its initial year, a measly 269 metric tons (MT) of vegetables were traded by 108 farmers, traders, and buyers. (Volume) transactions grew exponentially through the years, registering more than 1,000 MT in 2016, 71,220 MT in 2017, 106,000 MT in 2018, 121,200 MT in 2019, and 169,850 MT in 2020.

Phenomenal! After 6 years of operation, the BAPTC is now the country’s biggest vegetable trading facility. I say: “It can be bigger, better!”
(vegetables-in-trading image[2] from Herald Express)

That decision to incorporate was made during the 31 May 2021 meeting of the BAPTC’s Project Steering Board (PSB), according to Agriculture Secretary William Dar, PSB Chair. Mr Dar said:

We aim to optimize the potentials and profitability of the BAPTC through the provision of more cost-efficient services and modern facilities (for) farmers, traders and other stakeholders. As a corporation, the BAPTC will become a major player in our drive to modernize and industrialize the agriculture industry in the Cordillera Region.

The PSB decided against government bureaucracy that discouraged efficiency and innovation, unlike a private business concern. Mr Dar said:

With a corporate set-up, (the BAPTC) will be able to optimize (stakeholder) benefits, improve the marketability of Cordillera vegetables, and provide our farmers, buyers, and traders reasonable (returns) for their produce (and marketing efforts). Further, it could create subsidiaries to engage in other revenue-generating (projects).

During that board meeting, Ms Madelaine says:

The suggested businesses (included) trading of farm inputs and implements, other agricultural and food processing equipment; setting up of one-stop-shops including pharmacy; savings and loan unit; training and events management; and physical wellness facility.

History: With initial funding of P700 Million from the DA, the BAPTC started operations in 2015 occupying 4 ha of the strawberry fields of Benguet State University (BSU). The site chosen is first-rate: La Trinidad is the #1 municipality in Benguet, and BSU is the premier State University in the Cordillera region.

BSU’s Violeta Salda, who is BAPTC’s Chief Operations Officer, says that as of May, the Center has accredited 187 groups, composed of 146 farmers’ cooperatives and associations with more than 31,400 members; 34 buyers and traders groups; 4 transports’ groups and 3 packers’ and porters’ groups, with a combined membership of more than 4,500. Along with the growth of business, the number of stakeholders has grown from 108 pioneers to the current 40,000, an incredible increase of 370 times in 6 years!

With good business management, the BAPTC will grow even bigger in size, product variety and volume, and net earnings, in the coming years. Excellent for the farmers, excellent for consumers.@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/baptc-to-spin-into-corporation-to-provide-farmers-traders-more-services-bigger-income/?fbclid=IwAR1-kTwye1ZJkkRzLTd1IIhr0lXjKmvVLN8pcQvUtug87jxIP-ce_7qTDkQ

[2]https://www.baguioheraldexpressonline.com/pacalso-rules-out-vegetable-shortage-in-benguet123/

Nobody Should Die Of Covid-19

From “Sencia Sabado,” I saw this on Facebook 29 August 2021, “Awan Matay Iti Covid-19,” (Nobody Dies Of Covid-19). I translate freely from the Ilocano:

Studies by doctors show this virus lives in the respiratory system of a person and this is where the symptoms arise slowly; steadily the Covid-19 virus destroys the body, until a person dies.

Believe it or not, suob (steam therapy) is what we are doing abroad. You will be saved and your health will improve. Nobody dies of Covid-19 if the virus is disabled by way of suob.

With anyone who feels a fever, cough, pain or itch in the throat, difficulty in breathing, or any symptom or sign of Covid-19, by the traditional steam therapy with salt, the virus will be disabled; breathing will become easier immediately; and the fever will disappear.

This is all you have to do:

(1) Boil 1.5-2 liters of water in a casserole.

(2) When the water boils, put in 3-4 tablespoons of salt.

(3) Stir to dissolve the salt.

(4) Switch off or stop the boiling and transfer the water to a stainless container or use the casserole itself; put your face above the container, while covering all parts of your body with a blanket.

Close your eyes and get a towel or cloth to ward the heat off the face. Breath in through the nose to make sure the warm vapors enter the respiratory system and disable the virus. Breathe out through the mouth.

Stir the warm water with a spoon for as long as there is steam. The heat will disable the virus that is present in the nose, mouth and throat, and your body will sweat out the disabled virus. Your breathing should now improve; your fever will go away, and you will no longer feel any pain in your throat.

Repeat the suob procedure for 3 to 4 days as long as you feel the symptoms of Covid; do it twice a day, once in the morning after taking a bath, then in the evening before sleeping. For prevention, if you come from a grocery store or have been out and met people, do the suob to disable the virus and prevent it from entering the body. After the suob, put on a sweater and pajama; take care that your body is not exposed to the air or cold.

To improve your health more, add to body resistance by doing the following:

Take Vit C tablet, or drink lukewarm water with lime or lemonade.

Boil garlic or ginger and drink as hot as you can. Put in honey to put some taste especially for children.

Avoid drinking anything cold (soft drinks, cold water, juice and others).

Drink plenty of warm water, as hot as you can take.

Don’t stay awake long; sleep 7-8 hours a day.

Each healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits.

Above all, pray to God Almighty.

Beauty Tip:

Pssst.... When you sweat, not only is the virus disabled but your skin is cleansed; your face looks younger because toxins are released. Enjoy!@517

Richard Tantoco For PH Native Forests, My Unbelievable Pinoy Million Tree Man!

“EDC’s COO Richard B Tantoco talks of his personal and professional journey with his love for nature[1]” (Energy.com.ph).

Love for nature. During the Age of Dinosaurs (large typewriters), I was a very busy Editor In Chief of the Forest Research Institute (FORI), now Ecosystems Research & Development Bureau, from 1975 to 1981, busy founding & writing & editing for FORI’s 3 regular publications – monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatropand quarterly color magazine Habitat(that I patterned after the US National Geographic).

Nonetheless, Mr Tantoco surprises me that, ever since, I have never met a Million Tree Man like him! And native PH trees at that!

He writes (“Seeing Green”):

I have two dreams. The first is a personal one, and that is to plant a million Philippine native trees in five years. I still don’t have a business model for this endeavor right now, but maybe at some point I can sell some of the seedlings and create an eco-tourism venture that exposes the youth to nature and explains the importance of trees in an experiential manner.

A million native PH trees. I say that should attract a million PH youth, male & female.

But! Isn’t Mr Tantoco simply dreaming and/or wanting to sound pro-nature!?

Mr Tantoco joined the Lopez Group, becoming President & Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in 2008, EDC is the Group’s “100-percent renewable power arm,” he says. That same year, the Group also launched BINHI (seed), a greening legacy program, directed by Chair Emeritus Oscar Lopez.

BINHI was established to bridge forest gaps and bring back to abundance 96 of our vanishing Philippine native tree species. At the outset, it was an ambitious goal to rescue the most threatened endemic Philippine hardwoods from the brink of extinction. Trees of these 96 species (were) being cut down at an alarming rate, given the natural beauty of their grain and their mechanical strength.

Thus, with BINHI, the Lopez Group aimed “to combine the business need to reforest (their) concession areas with the need to preserve (Philippine forest) heritage.”

BINHI is collaborative. Making sure that the efforts are guided by science, the planners were partners Perry Ong andLeonard Co (UP Diliman College of Biology), team of Pat Malabrigo (UPLB College of Forestry), working with BINHI’s own Agnes De Jesus, a botanist.

They also have a team of foresters, permanent hires according to Mr Tantoco, for each of the project sites, to work with 88 farmer associations in and around target communities “to ensure that the trees we plant survive and grow into forests.” He says:

Our community partners earn good living by taking care of the trees themselves… The millions of trees planted to date have enriched the lush forests in our sites and in the areas of our community partners. These have been crucial in creating robust carbon sinks and in recharging the geothermal reservoirs that our business depends on.

Thank you, Mr Tantoco, a businessman minding the conservation of PH native trees!@

 

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[1]https://www.energy.com.ph/2021/06/17/seeing-green-energy-development-corporation/?fbclid=IwAR3HoLoJJIkGbjM5xT4pbIi2L6Yhf7sDbJnG_NrJ0m1FFrYMM9coKpvemTU

Vibrant Communication For Development Is What Is Lacking In PH Govt Departments

Above, looking at the Internet of Things (IoT), I see both Information and Communication, the give & take and the response, towards Development.

(“Internet of Things, IoT” image[1] from Alamy.com)

That thought has arisen from my repeated reading on Facebook the “DA-CAR Press Release No 21-135” dated 27 August 2021 written by ANN (Author Not Named) with this opening paragraph:

To keep government information offices and media updated on the priority programs of the government in (the) Cordillera region, more than 150 information/communication officers and media partners attended the meeting focusing on “strengthening government communication towards resilience and recovery” at the Conference Hall, Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office-Cordillera (DA-RFO-CAR) on 25 August 2021.
(bottom image)

CAR is the Cordillera Administrative Region. Actually, only 25 joined the meeting in person while more than 130 attended virtually. The assembly was facilitated by the Philippine Information Agency CAR headed by Regional Director Helen Tibaldoand hosted by the DA-RFO-CAR Regional Agriculture & Fisheries Information Section.

ANN says:

Agriculture Secretary William Dar was overwhelmed by the large number of participants… (He) urged the promotion of accurate information in his message. In addition, Sec Dar expressed his appreciation to the information officers, (saying) they are the important partners in bringing across truthful and relevant information in the region.

Mr Dar emphasizes “the promotion of accurate information” – the delivery of information that is factual and not slanted. While I am a private person, I appreciate much that Mr Dar says that public information officers are “the important partners in bringing across fruitful and relevant information to the region.”

I appreciate what ANN additionally says:

In the welcome address of Ms Tibaldo, she emphasized the critical role of government communicators especially during the pandemic such as being always on the loop from the very start: planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of government programs, projects and activities.

That is tantamount to Ms Tibaldo saying – and I agree – that communicators should be aware & knowledgeable of, so that they can communicate: government planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs, projects and activities.

If so, without realizing it, Ms Tibaldo is as if saying that communicators should be communicators for development!

Towards that welcome mission, the problem I see right now is that there is not enough communication that is being explained as directly or indirectly related to development, at the very least, at the village level. Village growth must be used as the source and measure of national development.

I believe that all that is because the communicators do not connect their communication efforts to what Mr Dar, as head of the Department of Agriculture, values: association, cooperation, partnership among & between government and non-government concerns. Public communicators and private media people would have their hands full if they valued those values.

Additionally, I believe an Internet of Thoughts Agriculture (IoTA) should be pursued by Philippine communicators public & private. With IoTA pulsating in the digital universe, we will be witness to nationwide development that is as vibrant as development can be!@517

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[1]https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/ict-information-and-communication-technology.html

Cordillera Rice Terraces – The Need To Rethink This PH National Treasure

Those world-famous Banaue rice terraces are good for tourism, but what about farming & climate? A question never before asked till now!

Pinoys, when you complain against climate change, you complain against what your own people, perhaps including you, may have done to Mother Earth, for decades – abuse natural resources.

The rice terraces are beautiful to tourists, Filipinos and foreigners alike – but they are not so beautiful when you consider the rice planted and the yield. Look at the above image again – yellow swaths against greens – ricefields with soils poor in nutrients for any crop.

Truth to tell, the owners of those terraces are not earning enough, and so they leave the area, or stay and complain about life.

It is as if the terrace farmers have no choice. But there is! They just have notbeen thinking the science of it. This is a wide-reading agriculturist speaking.

Mar Berry of World Agroforestry has written about it: “Coping With Climate Change Through Agroforestry: The Experience Of The Ykalingas In The Philippines[1].” I hate to say it against a fellow communicator, but Mr Berry’s article is 3 times not accurate. Thus:

1.   Steep slopes & rocky soils.
He says, “The Ykalinga people practice bench terracing to maximize the use of their land, which is usually composed of steep slopes and rocky soil.” No Sir: Bench terracing is not maximizing use of land – growing a food forest would be. No Sir: The land now occupied by the terraces originally was not rocky at all; it was rich in organic matter, but terracing removed all that natural goodness.

2.   Ykalingas learning about agroforestry. 
Mr Berry says, “To adapt, Ykalinga farmers in Kalinga, Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines are learning about agroforestry.” On the contrary, Mr Berry, ages before ours, the Ykalingas were already “practicing” agroforestry by allowing Mother Nature to grow the forests with all those foods – plants and animals – for humans. What needs to be done now is to rethink those rice terraces.

In fact, the Ykalingas unlearned the growing of (that is, allowing to grow) the natural food forest – now they have to relearn it.

3.   Bench terracing as maximizing the use of the land. 
What I can see is that the Ykalingas are neglecting agroforestry and insisting on the rice terraces as we can see. To simplify, agroforestry is forest + farm – the rice terraces are 100% farm and zero forest. I hope the people of the Department of Agriculture in the Cordilleras are teaching them to practice agroforestry again, but right now what is seen is agro (rice terraces) and what is unseen is forest (trees amid rice).

Mr Berry describes “the biophysical limitations in the area” as having “steep slopes, rockiness and shallow soils prone to erosion.” He is correct about the slopes and rockiness, but not the shallow soils

Originally, those were not shallow soils, but because the natives did not return the organic matter lost when they cleared the trees for rice, they slowly impoverished the soil, as well as themselves!@517

[1]https://worldagroforestry.org/blog/2020/06/08/coping-climate-change-through-agroforestry-experience-ykalingas-philippines?fbclid=IwAR2pbYVsSMFGvmpGQ20jtlwJR3iCVxNF6mx1omwsTmHNRiQAOnPDJd_d0FM