“Copy Our Neighbors” – Advice From Former NEDA Chief Cielito F Habito. My Advice: A Bigger DA Budget With Additional P50 Billion For Barangay-Based Organic Options

For PH Agriculture, former PH Director General of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Cielito F Habito has come up with the recommendation: “Copy Our Neighbors” (19 April 2022, Inquirer, https://inqm.news/xexq).

Mr Habito says:

One little piece of advice I have for our government, particularly in steering our agriculture sector toward greater dynamism, is simply to copy our neighbors.

Thank you Sir for the advice. If I may summarize you in 4 words, for PH agriculture: Big Budget, Big Science.

The Big Science of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam of whose agricultural performance we are now “trailing” according to you, especially the value chain:

They [Malysians] have clearly long understood that agriculture authorities need to look at the farm system holistically with a full value chain perspective –  that is, “from field to fork” (I like to add “finance” before “field” as well.)

Yes Sir!

On the other hand, our Secretary of Agriculture William Dar started with a holistic approach to agriculture 2 months beforeAugust 2019 when PRRD appointed him Secretary. His Manila Times column contained “The ‘New Thinking’ For Agriculture” (13 June 2019, manilatimes.net) with accompanying contributory paradigms (see “Eight Paradigms of the Newly Appointed DA Secretary in Achieving Food Secure Country” (srs.gov.ph).

I have complete trust in Mr Dar as PH Secretary of Agriculture. Let us not forget that he was the Director General who brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among the 15 international agricultural research agencies under the CGIAR, the 15 including IRRI.

On the other hand, appreciating Mr Habito, I believe our dear Philippines needs An Agriculture Reborn. I am thinking of the predicted short supply of fertilizers with that “World War 3” in Ukraine right now disrupting among other things agricultural exports and imports.

Also, as Pratik Parija, Mai Ngoc Chau & Ditas B Lopez write (“Rising Fertilizer Costs Are Catching Up To Rice Farmers, Threatening Supplies,” 19 April 2022, Bloomberg,Bloomberg.com):

Soaring fertilizer costs have rice farmers across Asia scaling back their use, a move that threatens harvests of a staple that feeds half of humanity and could lead to a full-blown food crisis if prices aren’t curbed.

What I will advise Mr Dar right now is a new approach to PH Agriculture:

Barangay-Based Agriculture Revitalized with Organic Options Advancing Basic Intelligence In Living Intimately with Nature (BARO A BILIN). (Ilocano to English: “New Instructions.”)

Iam thinking of Mr Dar asking PH Govt for P50 Billion more for the 2022 DA budget, now P107 Billion. The P50 Billion will be spent thus:

(1)    Grants to farmer cooperatives for production of their own organic formulas;

(2)    Loans to organic farmers with zero interest for 3 years;

(3)    DA to produce organic formulas for communities without farmer cooperatives;

(4)    DA to purchase rights of existing organic formulations from private sources;

(5)    Digital Knowledge Bank and nationwide promotion of BARO A BILIN.

With BARO A BILIN, we will be cultivating A New & Prosperous PH Agriculture!@517

April Is Filipino Food Month – Has The Department Of Agriculture Been Cultivating Filipino Food Giving Value To Cultural Heritage, Towards National Pride & Sense Of Belonging?

According to Presidential Proclamation 469 signed by PRRD on 13 April 2018, the month of April of every year is designated as “Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino” or “Filipino Food Month.” My Ilocano mouth is watering, but I do not see any “food offering” by the Department Of Agriculture (DA) – not a program or activity to meaningfully celebrate the month. Why not?

(“Natural Food” image from Market Business News, marketbusinessnews.com)

In CNN Travel, Maida Pineda and Candice Lopez-Quimpo list“50 Dishes That Define The Philippines” (25 May 2016, CNN.com) (edited):

Adobo, Arroz Caldo, Bagnet, Balut, Betute, Bibingka,
Bicol Express, Buko Pie, Bulalo, [Camaron] Rebosado,
Champorado, Chicken Inasal, Crispy Pata, Dinuguan at Puto,
Empanada De Kaliskis, Ensaymada at Tsokolate, Fish Kinilaw,
Fish Tinola, Halayang Ube, Halo-Halo, Ilocos Empanada,
Inihaw na Liempo, Inihaw na Panga ng Tuna, Kamaro,
Kare-Kare, Kuhol sa Gata, Laing, Leche Flan, Lechon,
Longanisa, Lumpiang Ubod, Pan De Sal, Pancit Habhab,
Pancit Palabok, Pastillas De Leche, Pinakbet, Pork Barbecue,
Puto Bumbong, Relyenong Alimango, Sinanglay, Sinigang,
Sinugno, Sisig, Suman at Mang[g]a, Taba ng Talangka,
Tablea Tsokolate, Taho, Tapa, Tinolang T[u]gac, and Turon.

We have much & many Filipino foods to celebrate – where is the celebration?!

Thomas Kellersays, “A recipe has no soul. You must bring soul to the recipe.” Likewise, the Filipino Food proclamation has no soul; Filipinos must bring soul to Filipino food.

My way of celebrating April as Filipino Food Month is to point out that every bit of food can be the source of natural health for everyone. And the way for the DA to ensure that is? Promote organic agriculture more than ever before!

The top image says, “Pagkaing Pilipino: Susi Sa Pag-unlad At Pagbabago.” My free translation: “Filipino Food: Key To Progress & Meaningful Change.”

I do subscribe to natural food as key to progress and meaningful change. The lower image says, “Natural Food: Food from farms that don’t use artificial fertilizers, GMOs, pesticides, growth regulators or food additives.”

Brought to you by? Organic Agriculture!

And so, I am sort of expecting that OneDA, under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, will officially declare that henceforth, organic farming shall be encouraged from Aparri to Jolo. So that the DA pronouncement is not simply hot air, henceforth I expect the DA to allot at least P50 Billion for the promotion of organic agriculture and the production of organic fertilizers that will be distributed at half cost of production to farmer cooperatives. (I prefer cooperatives to simply farmer associations because a coop has a board of directors where community interests are represented, while a farmer association is usually a one-man or one-group rule.)

According to Patricia Bianca Taculao (26 March 2022, “Celebrating Food, Culture, And The Filipino With The Filipino Food Month,” Manila Bulletin, MB.com.ph), the theme of the whole-month celebration is “Iba’t Ibang Luto, Pinoy ang Puso” (my free translation – “Different Recipes, Same Filipino Heart”).

Next year, it should read: “Different Natural Food Recipes, Same Filipino Healthy Heart!”@517

Thesis: “Why Organic Farming Does Not Best Address Climate Change” – Genetic Literacy Project, American. Antithesis: “Why Organic Farming Does!” – Frank A Hilario, Filipino. Synthesis – American Farmers Are Abusing Organic Farming!

About organic agriculture (OA): Are you anti-OA? I am pro-OA. Are you scientific? Yes. And so am I!

On 30 March 2022, I sawthe Facebook sharing of Filipino science thinker Benigno Peczon: “Viewpoint: Organic Farming Best Addresses Climate Change? Why The Popular Consensus Is Wrong – And Why GE Crops Should Be Agriculture’s Future” (Henry Miller & Kathleen Hefferon, 23 March 2022, geneticliteracyproject.org). The authors are writing for the Genetic Literacy Project(GLP); Here’s the Thesis; the GLP authors say:

A prevalent “green myth” about organic agriculture is that it does not employ pesticides. Organic farming does, in fact, use insecticides and fungicides to prevent predation of its crops.

American OA employs chemicals to grow foods with the label “Organic” – what?! Americans are crazy!

Filipino, I am a BS Agriculture graduate of UP Los Baños (1965) and a very wide digital reader since 1997. For myself, I discovered organic agriculture in 1966 in the open shelves of the library of UP College of Agriculture, now UPLB, in the books of American gentleman farmer Edward H Faulkner: Plowman’s Folly (1943) and Soil Development (1952).

The GLP authors say:

More than 20 chemicals are commonly used in the growing and processing of organic crops and are acceptable under the US Department of Agriculture’s arbitrary and ever-shifting organic rules. Many of those organic pesticides are more toxic than the synthetic ones used in ordinary farming.

“More than 20 chemicals” – American “organic agriculture” is actually “chemical agriculture”!

The GLP authors blast American OA:

“The fatal flaw of organic agriculture is the low yields that cause it to be wasteful of water and farmland.”

The GLP authors cite 2014 data analyzed by Steven Savage of CropLife Foundation who reported:

In 59 of the 68 crops surveyed, there was a yield gap, which means that, controlling for other variables, organic farms were producing less than conventional farms.

The more glaring differences were these: strawberries produced 61% less, tangerines 58% less, cotton 45% less; and rice 39% less.

I accept the data. What I want to dispute is the way/s of organic farming that those American farmers employ. (That is also one reason I do not subscribe to organic produce being certified by a national body – the certification expense is unnecessary if you do it right, 100% organic!)

In any case, I am arranging for a group, nameless here yet, to sponsor a 5-ha organic techno demo farm in Bay, Laguna – near where we have the Los Baños Science Community: Asean Centre for Biodiversity, IRRI, PCAARRD, PhilRice Los Baños, Searca, and UP Los Baños. I am looking for a financial sponsor.

Of those 5 ha, 3 ha will be devoted to different organic farming methods; 1 ha to conventional chemical farming, and 1 ha to the organic layer initially created via rotavator (my OA origination since 1966).

Until then, eat your heart out with chemicals-laden farm crops & animals!@517

ASENSO, The Sure-Fire Organic Fertilizer Formula For Helping Farmers Double, Even Triple Their Incomes Wherever They Farm In The Philippines

Today, I am convinced that the best way to help Filipino farmers rise from poverty is to start from the very beginning: Change very expensive chemical farming to very economical organic farming! (Additionally, I have a personal formula for an almost-free organic farming, but that can come later.)

56 years ago, I saw the great promise of organic agriculture (OA) for farmers foreign or Filipino – but I never seriously thought of how OA could enrich each and every farmer without fail. Today, I say, the PH government should be the organic husbandman!

I now recommend that the Department of Agriculture (DA) embark on a nationwide program for farmers to actually immediately embrace OA – now, it is wrong to think first of organic certification!
(“Embrace” image from adobestock.com.ph)

For my degree, I studied for BS Agriculture major in Ag Eduat the UP College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, from 1959 to 1964, or 5 years (I was “Extreme Delinquent” for 1 semester), graduating with a 2.36 WA (counting in the 5s) – I remember my mis/achievements, but I don’t remember OA being taught.

In 1966, while I was a Substitute Instructor in Horticulture, I hounded the open shelves of the library of UPCA/UPLB and discovered Edward H Faulkner’s “trash farming” in his 2 books published by the University of Oklahoma Press: Plowman’s Folly (1943) and Soil Development (1952). Trash farming has since invaded my mind – but, unfortunately, I have not been bold enough to push organic agriculture fervently in my country.

That was before. Right now I’m thinking of the PH DA – with the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar– embarking on a nationwide program for an organic agriculture program I now call ASENSO – Agrikulturang Syensya Entero Natural Sistemang Organiko.

With several billions of a dedicated budget from the national government, ASENSO will be implemented nationwide via farmers’ groups, associations, especially multi-purpose cooperatives funded via the Agricultural Credit & Policy Council(ACPC). The initial ASENSO assistances are not farmer loans – they are ACPC grants. (The ACPC will also ease financing for virtual agribusiness trainings for farmers.)

The organic fertilizers will be provided free to farmers for Year 1, or 2 planting seasons. After that, they will have to pay the approved coop price.

How much budget would this cost? If you have 10 million farmers, about P50 billion, where the total cost of farming can be loaned out to farmers with zero interest and is payable in 5 years.

To make sure that organic fertilizers (OF) are economical, the OF makers will first be competitively compared by actual plantings for the 1^st season. The first 3 leading OFs by virtue of yield will then be mass-purchased from by the DA, the fertilizers to be distributed to farmer coops for grant purposes.

Now then – if a presidentiable made ASENSO a very audible/visible part of his/her campaign, s/he will gain millions of votes from farmers! S/he will then make great political ASENSO – in the name of PH Progress!@517

“A Future Without Fertilizer Is A Wonderful World! And Yes, It’s Achievable Right Now, No Matter What World Experts Say!” – Frank A Hilario

Are you still swearing by chemical fertilizers? American scientists have been studying how to (1) avoid synthetic fertilizers, and (2) produce enough food for people, and (3) help resolve climate change.

I saw William Dar’sFacebook sharing of Friday, 15 April 2022 – Clinton Griffiths writing about “A Future Without Fertilizer?” (13 April 2022, agweb.com). Mr Griffiths enumerates the alternatives being studied in the US; “here are four ideas that someday could impact nitrogen needs” –

(1) mucus-like gel and bacteria (top image from agweb.com);
(2) ammonia-excreting bacteria;
(3) living mulch supplement with P&K;
(4) manure or manure-based fertilizer.

Mr Griffith says:

Pressure from costs, availability, regulations and environmentalists continue to squeeze synthetic fertilizer into a complicated future. Today farmers simply have limited alternatives. Tomorrow, the answer might be much different.

“Pressure from… environmentalists” – the reason being the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that chemical fertilizers cause to be generated when used. Agriculture guilty! Mr Griffiths says:

Currently, chemical fertilizer is the largest industry in global agribusiness and 1% of the world’s total energy is used to produce fertilizer. This process is quite wasteful, as plants only use a portion of the nitrates in the applied fertilizers and the rest often leaches into our groundwater, rivers, and streams, causing algal blooms that can suffocate aquatic life. This also leads to a situation in which the nitrogen not used by the crop can volatilize and become a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, which is ultimately responsible for about 5% of global warming.

“Chemical fertilizer is the largest industry in global agribusiness” – therefore, I say, as an agriculturist and warrior writer for village development, chemical fertilizer is the largest industry that produces GHGs!

Mr Griffiths quotes Purdue University agronomist Tony Vyn as saying:

I do not see a future without synthetic fertilizers. I do see a future using more biologicals and preferably while we’re also making much better use of manure and manure-based fertilizers.

Differently, I Frank A Hilario, an alumnus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, see a future without chemical fertilizers, zero. In fact, I have been proselytizing for organic agriculture in the last 57 years! Today I call my organic agriculture “Rotavator Organic WEALth” – for Weeds-Enriched Automatic Layer Triggering Terrestrial Health, which is inexpensively produced by a rotavator. Except the acronym “WEALth” and its meaning, I have been writing about organic farming for many years now; see my 20 July 2011 essay, “Crop Science Philippines. How Organic-Minded Are We?” A Magazine Called Love, Blogspot.com). WEALth is my 2021 packaging. WEALth is not organic fertilizer applied; it is 100% organic layer created during rotavation.

A future without fertilizer is a desirable future! A glorious state of being for the whole world! Above, lower image – taken 21-06-2018 at the Amancio Farm in Cordon, Isabela; owner Noemi Liangco right, my wife Ampy left – shows a forest of trees and weeds lushly growing without fertilizers, excellent indications that without Man’s chemicals, Mother Nature Knows Best!@517

“I See Beyond The Climate Crisis From RAg To Riches Farming Villages!” – Frank A Hilario

Climate Change is for all of us young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, 1^st World or 3^rd World – the Climate Crisis visits on those living in those First World skyscrapers as well as those in those Third World hovels. And yes, we are all guilty of a climate sin!

I just saw today (Good Friday) Inquirer’s Facebook sharing, “LOOK: The hashtag #LetTheEarthBreath tops Twitter's trending list in the Philippines as of 7 am today, April 15, as Filipinos join the worldwide climate change protests.” Inquirer says:

According to NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus, on April 6, over 1,000 scientists from 26 different countries risked arrest for staging protests following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's [IPCC] new report. … In Los Angeles, Kalmus and three other scientists chained themselves to the doors of the JPMorgan Chase building, the bank, which, according to him, provides the most funding to fossil fuel firms that leads to climate destruction.
(“Climate Change protests” image from YouTube)

Those scientists are entitled to their protests, but I will neverjoin them. Unlike Martin Luther’s unorganized“95 Theses” against my Roman Catholic faith, I am not protesting against the established order of blaming the users/abusers of fossil fuel for the climate crisis.

Instead of protest, I would rather protect the farms from continuing degradation of their natural bodies by returning to them their God-given riches – including the fungi and the worms!

If you ask me, a son of a Filipino farmer, an Agriculturist – BS Ag Edu, UP Los Baños ’65, Civil Service Professional ’64, a wide digital reader in the last 25 years, and already writing about Climate Change even before Al Gore and the IPCC co-won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 – I say:

Instead, I am launching a climate crusade literally in the lower grounds – right where much of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are produced – farms that season after season are enthusiastically coated with chemical fertilizers and unreservedly blanketed with chemical pesticides. The practice of chemical agriculture (CA) produces much greenhouse gases (GHGs). Christian Aid says, “The global food system contributes up to a third of our total [GHGs] and needs to change” (ReliefWeb, reliefweb.int).

Hereby, I am launching a “RAg To Riches Revolution” – where RAg is “Regenerative Agriculture.” RAg is essentially Organic Agriculture (OA), but I want to emphasize the regenerative aspect and the natural, physical & monetary wealths that follow OA.

“#LetTheEarthLive” is my hashtag. To let live requires:

1^st, non-application of agricultural chemicals in farms and
2^nd, return of natural materials to farms so they will live againand farmers’ crops & animals will live healthy livesas designed by Mother Nature.

What does Genesis1:11 say again?

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (NRSV)
(“Let the earth…” image from Knowingjesus.com)

RAg to Riches: With RAg, the Earth will produce nothing but natural wealths!@517

We Need A Presidential Hero For PH, Especially Agriculture!

Why is it that no presidentiable is talking about PH Agriculture when it is the #1 industry in the Philippines and millions of people are directly dependent on it for their foods and finances?

I have a for-my-eyes-only Word-file that says:

There should be a survey on the Presidentiables’ individual Vision, Mission & Strategies, VMS, for the country. That will force them to come up with their own VMS package; then we can intelligently select!

Above, my photo was taken on my extended ViewSonic 20 monitor on Tuesday, 24 April 2018, one of many Windows 10accidental collages I was able to catch onscreen (on my Lenovo Core i7 laptop). Everything you see is part of the W10 collage, including day and date – I had to look into the image data to determine the year: Digital data doesn’t lie.

Our choice for the next PH President cannot be personal – it must be based on what the candidates said in the past, and what they are saying now. The statements must not be scattered – they must be consciously more or less nationally directed.

Here is an example of what I mean by Vision, borrowing from Servant Leader & Secretary of Agriculture William Dar –
“Science with a happy Filipino face.”

Mr Dar’s original was “Science with a human face” – the slogan with which as Servant Leader he guided the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT) from dead last to #1 from 2000 to 2014 (3 terms). ICRISAT is based in India. Mr Dar is now in the Philippines; while unfortunately, he is notrunning for President, we can learn from him about VMS!

On the right of the above image are a few recognizable faces of PH National Heroes; I recognize Apolinario Mabini, Jose Rizal, and Andres Bonifacio. Which kind of hero do we need for the Philippines today to lead us?

My choice is the middle – Rizal, because he was an intellectual as well as a true farmer seen when on exile in Dapitan, Mindanao. In an article in the National Historical Commission website, ANN says (Author Not Named, undated, “Museo Ni Jose Rizal, Dapitan” (NHCP.gov.ph):

For four years (1892-1896), Rizal kept himself busy with various pursuits and occupations: as an educator, doctor, farmer, artist, architect and engineer, entrepreneur, archaeologist, and naturalist.

Rizal cultivated a 34-hectare farm in Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte, some 38 kilometers south of Talisay, Dapitan… Rizal also put up a school and dormitory for boys in Talisay… With engineering and architectural skills, he built a dam and waterworks in Talisay and set up the town plaza of Dapitan with street lighting.

Rizal had studied medicine and already a practicing surgeon – barehanded, he began literally from scratch and studied how to farm with only those local boys helping him. 34 hectares! That’s like the President minding Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao today. Rizal needed not a one-track mind but a multi-track and multi-task brain to succeed. Rizal knew he was doing it for his country.

We need a National Hero for President today!@517