News On New PH Agriculture – William Dar Optimist, Rene Ofreneo Pessimist!

Rene E Ofreneo writes “Dar’s ‘Leveling Up’ Vision: Will It Work?” in the 20 February 2020 issue of Business Mirror, a total of 1,032 words including title[1]. And it’s not pleasant. I am The Wizard Of Os, yes? I can see Manong Rene:

Sees the Obstacles
Sees Not the Opportunities
Sees Not the Options
Sees Not the Outputs
Sees Not the Outcomes!

How did my favorite British wit Oscar Wilde put it again?

Between the optimist and the pessimist
The difference is droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut,
The pessimist the hole!

With that column at the Business Mirror, it turns out Manong Willie is the Optimist and Manong Rene is the Pessimist!

When William Dar/Manong Willie became PH Secretary of Agriculture, he came out with his “New Thinking for Agriculture” with “The Eight Paradigms” to give it flesh – all for “leveling up” PH agriculture.

Manong Rene says:

(William) Dar blames the terrible collapse of agriculture to the failure of the average Filipino small farmer “to access low cost finance for inputs”, “limited links to the value chain and retail markets”, and “no access to better inputs and modern technologies”.

Not quite, Manong Rene. I should know the thinking of Manong Willie since I was an international consulting writer for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, when he was the Director General – I wrote for ICRISAT from January 2007 to December 2014. The ICRISAT slogan was “Science with a human face.” In terms of science background, Manong Willie has a PhD in Horticulture from UP Los Baños. In terms of science management in the Philippines, he was Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research, and Director General of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic & Natural Resources Research & Development. He was DG of ICRISAT from January 2000 to December 2014, or 15 years.

Manong Willie is bringing science to the people for the people.

Manong Rene, if you did not know, led by Manong Willie, our Department of Agriculture, DA, has adopted the slogan “Masaganang Ani At Mataas Na Kita” (Plenteous Harvest, Bounteous Income, my translation). Roughly, DA’s much harvest along with much income translates to ICRISAT’s science with a human face. If anything, now the DA identifies 100% with the poor – the DA head was born poor, and his family could not afford to send him to high school. It was an uncle who saved him from ignorance – education should always lead us out of ignorance.

Manong Willie looks at continuing farmer poverty as a failure in the paradigm of inclusive growth, which is that of the World Bank (and therefore our economic planners), instead of inclusive market-oriented development of ICRISAT (and therefore that of our Manong Willie).

Between inclusive growth and inclusive development, the difference is gross: In Growth we continue to have the poor; in Market-Oriented Development, the poor properly share in the values added along the value chain from seed to spoon. If Manong Rene does not know that, poor Manong Rene!@517

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[1] https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/02/20/dars-leveling-up-vision-will-it-work/?fbclid=IwAR1Y2qGyogPVSgFrNDkNTak4Ybz8chakBnxhtJqZ9sZIzIAqWuhQ6LUPBlg

KAYA As New PH Agriculture Youth Program – This Is A Job For Superboys!

Are we in the Digital Age or not? Towards the end of last month, Roi Anthoni Lomotan tells us that Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie discussed the Department of Agriculture, DA’s program to attract the youth to engage themselves in the business of farming. Indeed, the DA has 3 programs for them: Agribusiness Incubation; Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs, KAYA; and the AgrinegosyoLoan Program – setting aside P2.5 Billion meant to be cash grants.

Now, the news Mr Lomotan reported happened last month yet, during a forum held at the Negros Oriental Convention Center on 28 January 2020 (PIA[1]); his report is dated 11 February 2020, or 2 weeks late! In these digital times, I can only explain this news delay as lack of interest. Kaya; kaya lang, hindi kinaya. Has the ability, but sorry, did not bother.

From his Facebook page, I learn that Mr Lomotan is a young man. The above tells me that the youth have notsensed by themselves the Opportunitiesin Agriculture and only seen the Obstacles, and so I am not surprised that they have not ventured into agribusiness of one kind or another.

Yes, Mr Lomotan says:

The country’s agriculture chief explained that the department is trying to imitate (Silicon) Valley’s way of nurturing innovative individuals by providing a cash grant (each) amounting to P500,000 to individuals who can present ideas or proposals that can boost the advancement of (the) agribusiness industry under its agribusiness incubation program.

We learn that thatP500,000 is a grant; it is free. KAYA and Agrinegosyo are 2 credit programs with zero interest rates and payable in 5 years. Under KAYA, anyone 18 to 30 years old can apply for as much as P500,000 to start an agribusiness. Aside from the loan, s/he will receive “mentoring support from schools, universities, or successful agripreneurs.” Under Agrinegosyo, s/he can borrow between P300,000 and P15 million! These loan programs are implemented by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, an agency of the DA, as well as other partner lending institutions.

Now, Mr Lomotan says:

A report from DA’s website said that individuals who want to apply for KAYA must submit an extensive business proposal for review and assessment from the department.

On the surface, I note: “extensive business proposal.” HINDI KAYA! Not able. This senior citizen, at 79, himself sees the above as an Obstacle: Why because a young wo/man cannot be reasonably expected to prepare an “extensive business proposal.”

Ah, but Mr Lomotan says, “(The youth) will also receive mentoring support from schools, universities, or successful entrepreneurs.” So, I suppose the mentoring starts immediately – when a young fellow has a vague idea of an agribusiness venture, s/he informs a KAYA cooperating school, university or agripreneur, and they discuss and work on it until that business proposal is done.

And so this senior must salute our country’s DA in also attending to the minds and abilities of the Filipino youth in advancing PH agriculture at this juncture in our history as a nation.@517

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[1] https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1034359?fbclid=IwAR3Bo3iM8oi105wKTX3vNImEbNtUrNrKu-nNxllvoB5MbF-XhvGYFtXMJ0E

If GII Is For The World, IMOD Is For The Philippines! – William Dar

Is the world innovative enough such as the GII would like us to believe?

There is a Technical Meeting and High-Level Conference – meaning, closed doors – on the Global Innovation Index, GII, going on at the Philippine International Convention Center, 18-19 February 2020[1]. Heads of national agencies expected to participate are those of the Departments of Agriculture, Information & Communications Technology, Science & Technology, Trade & Industry, the Commission on Higher Education, CHEd, and National Economic & Development Authority, NEDA.

Meanwhile, I am reading the Facebook sharing (above) of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie. Intriguing, yes.

But first, about the GII and its relevance to the economy. Louella Desiderio says, “Philippines Jumps 19 Places In Global Innovation Index” (Philippine Star[2]). Ms Louella says the GII, which is co-published by Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organization, “measures the innovation performance and progress of countries.” Innovation follows progress. With the GII, innovativeness is a reflection of these 7 foundations: institutions, infrastructure, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, creative outputs, human capital and research, and market sophistication.

So PH is 54^th in innovation among 129 countries, a lower middle income country. Miguel Gil says NEDA head Ernesto Pernia says the country is “expected to advance to upper middle income status by 2020[3]” (Philippine News Agency), which is this year.

What does it mean when PH achieves “middle income status” this year? To answer, I go back to the caption of Manong Willie that accompanies the image on Facebook (above):

Highlighting the importance of innovation and technology as the accelerators of growth of the Inclusive Market-Oriented Development strategy in agriculture!

Differently, he looks at innovation and technology as expediters of national growth in the context of the strategy called Inclusive Market-Oriented Development, IMOD. That changes everything. I was extremely delighted when I saw those words about the development strategy in PH Agriculture in the mind of Manong Willie.

You see, IMOD is where the poor are actors for as well as acceptors of progress. I know all about IMOD because I was an international consulting writer for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, and ICRISAT adopted the IMOD strategy with Manong Willie as Director General – he was DG from January 2000 to December 2014.

IMOD is necessary to consider, even if the GII ignores it as a gauge of global growth. Market-oriented means (a) that the country is conscious of the workings of the markets as far as the farmers are concerned, and (b) that the farmers must be especially observant of the supply and demand of the markets of farm produce. Inclusive development means that the poor farmer producers are included as justifiable recipients of the values added along the chain from seed to spoon, and the merchants are excluded.

So, okay, with GII being observed, the Philippines will become an upper middle income country this year. But if we do not follow IMOD as PH strategy, the poor we will always have with us!@

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[1] http://www.tapi.dost.gov.ph/news/203-moving-up-dost-hosts-gii-conference-in-the-philippines

[2] https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/07/26/1937993/philippines-jumps-19-places-global-innovation-index

[3] https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1075978

How To Teach Farmers Climate Change – Without Teaching Farmers Climate Change!

Beautiful! The above beautiful image is a beautiful source of lessons in climate change, which is an important consideration for the New PH Agriculture with Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie. 

There are 4 things wrongwith it:

(1)   Too much water.

(2)   Seedlings too old.

(3)   Root systems of seedlings injuriously cut.

(4)   Farmer will apply nitrogen fertilizer unnecessarily.

Water

When you transplant rice, a damp soil is enough, not flooded like that. You are wasting water. So what? You are contributing to climate change!

Seedlings

When you transplant seedlings that old, you have had standing water in your seedbed far longer than you should. Think of how many million farmers are doing this, and you will appreciate how this wrong seedbed practice affects the climate.

And why are such rice seedlings too old to transplant? They are no longer young and therefore no longer have the youthful ability to withstand stress. In the System of Rice Intensification, SRI, seedlings of only 2 weeks old are transplanted, which can easily recover from the transplanting shock.

Nitrogen Fertilizer

Since the old seedlings transplanted cannot recover quickly, the farmer applies nitrogen fertilizer so that he can see his seedlings green again. He does not realize it was he who made it necessary to apply the N fertilizer because he transplanted old seedlings that have parts of their root systems cut off, restricting water and plant foods naturally delivered to the stem and leaves.

Planting in squares with 1 seedling per hill – each seedling will enjoy a good microclimate because each one will produce its maximum number of tillers, which are the ones that produce the grains.

If the farmer transplants earlier, seedlings will recover fast – no need for the farmer to apply nitrogen fertilizer just to see his seedlings green, just like my father Lakay Disiong did. That’s saving on chemical fertilizer, saving on nitrates that cause climate change, if you forgot.

Root system

At this stage, a rice seedling already has grown a good root system and you destroy that system by carelessly pulling the seedling out of the soil.

The root system is the one that supplies water and minerals to the plant. How then can seedlings like those shown above, with parts of their roots cut off, recover easily from transplanting shock?

Rice has a shallow root system[1]; in some photographs, you see long roots being shown – those are mostly anchor roots, to keep the rice in place. Actually, the feeder roots of rice do not grow downward but sideward, searching for food. That is why each seedling needs all the space it can get, and that is why strictly square planting of single rice seedlings per hill under SRI is an intelligent design.

Good farmer entrepreneurship: A good rice farmer saves on water, seedlings, and fertilizer. If the farmer saves such, that’s good business sense, that’s entrepreneurship. And it’s good for the environment – the farmer is doing us a favor in terms of climate change without him (or us) realizing it!@517

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[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429017319287

Re-Sounding Joy

Right now, in my bedroom-writeroom, I have about 400 books big & little. I pick up a red book of 250 pages, Laugh Again by Charles R Swindoll, radio evangelist. I am Roman Catholic, but I read all kinds. My handwritten note says I first read it 09 September 2013, again 04 January 2020, and then 25 January 2020. Again today, 17 February 2020. 

On page 11, in Introduction, Mr Swindoll writes:

This is a book about joy.
It’s about relaxing more, releasing the tension, and refusing to let circumstances dominate our attitudes.

I myself need to be reminded to re-sound joy every single time, every time. (Image above is Windows 10’s own joyful creation)

I want to give thanks to God for the presences and essences of significant others in my life, my children near and far – as near as home and as far as Toronto and New York.

I want to give thanks to God for the presence and essence of my wife. For my presence and essence too.

In my creative life, I have been experiencing joy since 1975 when I began working out my creative thoughts into published pages at the Forest Research Institute, FORI, founding and editing its monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat. Those 3 made FORI well-known in the Philippines and abroad in those early years. New ideas make me happy; I want to make you happy with my new ideas.

In January 2007, that international joy multiplied when I became an international consulting writer of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when now-Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines William Dar/Manong Willie was Director General – he was DG from January 2000 to December 2014. ICRISAT published 7 books of mine; all included articles previously uploaded in my dedicated blog iCRiSAT Watch, Blogger.com.

There is joy in discovering something good, or better, or best! There should always be joy when a baby is born, joy in marriage, joy in parenthood.

How can you experience joy among your enemies? Bask in the joy that God will take good care of you!

How can there be joy at the death of a loved one? Joy in the past, joy in the expectation of eternal joy.

If you cannot experience joy and re-send joy to others, you cannot enjoy life.

I always write thinking in joy because there is no creative writing without creative thinking first. And you cannot do any creative thinking if there is no joy within you.

Of the genius of writing, Talent is only 10%; Creative Thinking is 90%. If you do not have joy within you, creative thinking is Zero. Or Sorrowful.

On page 19, Mr Swindoll writes:

Someone once asked Mother Teresa what the job description was for anyone who might wish to work alongside her in the grimy streets and narrow alleys of Calcutta. Without hesitation she mentioned only two things: the desire to work hard and a joyful attitude.

My over-riding goal in writing?
Always I want to infect your reading life with joy!@517

PH Public Science And Public Service – More Bananas, Please!

From Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has come out an order: "Solve banana's 'Panama disease' and boost exports." His directive came out on Valentine’s Day; it is a command to the Department of Agriculture, DA, and a plea to others, he having noted that:

Despite… the lingering “Panama disease” or Fusarium wilt, fresh banana remains as the country's major farm export. ¶ In fact, it earned for the country US$1.77 billion, from January to November 2019, making it the top farm export item, and US$1.38 billion in 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Since Cavendish banana for export mostly comes from Mindanao, there must be hundreds of thousands of hectares of banana farms big and small in that island. In 2010, there were almost 500,000 hectares devoted to banana in the whole Philippines, according to the Food & Fertilizer Technology Center[1].

He also said:

What more, if we could solve the decades-old Panama disease that has been plaguing banana farms in Mindanao? That is why we at the Department of Agriculture are reaching out to all growers and exporters, local government units, and other industry stakeholders to forge stronger and more sustainable collaboration to put Panama disease to rest.

Our banana exports exclusively come from Mindanao. Actually, I know we have in fact effectively stoppedFusarium wilt of banana in that southern island of the Philippines – but we have not implemented that solution widely and intensively – I understand, for lack of funds. Almost exactly 3 years ago, on 28 February 2017, I wrote that our banana scientists led by Gus Molina (top right image imposed), with the help of the Taiwan Banana Research Institute, found a naturally occurring Cavendish, tagged C218, that was by itself resistant to the Panama disease. (See my essay, “The Banana Wars: GMO Vs Clones[2],” Alternative Journalism, blogspot.com). Mr Molina was then Regional Representative of Bioversity International. He says now that Philippine bananas have a certain “higher quality” world consumers desire. I will attribute that to the kind of soil and climate we have particularly in Mindanao.

I say today that the Cavendish solution to the Cavendish problem has found a Science Manager Savior in this country in the person of Manong Willie who is Head of the DA and who has the power to assign – and attract – funds to multiply C218 for all current and would-be banana farmers in Mindanao, or anywhere else in the Philippines.

I have a vicarious feeling about this, Philippine science serving bananas to the Filipino people. It has something to do with ethnicity – regarding the Ilocanos. Manong Willie is an Ilocano, from Ilocos Sur; Manong Gus is an Ilocano and, I just found out, also from Ilocos Sur! And Ilocano am I, my grandfather Graciano from La Union. And we all have degrees from UP Los Baños – so, UPLB must be doing something better than the other state colleges & universities of the Philippines?

I must declare: Ilocanos are serving their country extremely well – if only as far as serving their bananas!@517

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[1] http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&id=20150810090507

[2] https://ialternativejournalism.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-banana-wars-gmo-vs-clones.html

PH DA Solving The National Swine Disease Problem By ALGURITHM ASF?

First, some perspective on the African Swine Fever, ASF, plaguing the backyard hog raising industry in the Philippines today. PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie spoke of it as guest speaker on the first day of the 2nd International Farmers Summit 2020 held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City 12-14 February 2020. 

The summit actually featured the poultry and livestock industries. The leaders Manong Willie mentioned in his talk were, for the hog industry: Rosendo So, Chester Tan, Edwin Chen, Eugenio Mende; and for the poultry sector: Bong Inciong and Georgie San Diego.

Manong Willie assumed office on 05 August 2019. Now, he told his audience what he had been asking himself (with a little editing):

Bakit po, Diyos, nung nagsimula ako noong Agusto 5 ay ang daming bumagsak dito sa Pilipinas na problema sa sector ng agrikultura? Sana tulungan po ninyo itong bansang minamahal namin, para maka-move forward na rin kami at talagang ipu-push po namin ang pagyaman na ng farmers at fishers namin.

(Why God, when I started on August 5, many problems descended on the Philippines in the agriculture sector? Please help this country we love so that we can then move forward and really push for the prosperity of our farmers and fishers.)

To appreciate the pain, let us have some data about the ASF. Pig Progress reported about the Philippines:

According to OIE data… almost 187,500 pigs (have) died as a consequence of ASF, either by the virus or by necessary cullings.

Multiply that number by P5,000, the fixed amount the Department of Agriculture, DA, pays hog raisers for every pig affected or depopulated, and the total loss is already a staggering P937 Million, almost P1 Billion.

Lord, have mercy on us!

For hope, browsing the full speech of Manong Willie, more than 2,600 words, as transcribed by Kuhlin Ceslie Gacula, I see what I refer to in my title as:

ALGURITHM ASF – Assistance of Local Government Units in Responding Intelligently to the Transferable Health Menace called African Swine Fever.

I mean, Manong Willie was all the while pleading with the government leaders of LGUs to assist the DA in fighting the ASF as a common enemy – because it is. He saw the crucial help of the LGUs initially in containing and eventually controlling the disease, for the good of all.

Manong Willie said:

Hindi tayo susuko sa mga problema na dumating na dapat nating bigyan ng focus and attention para sa ganun ay they will not (inaudible) up into the very productivity levels that we have to have, para ma-ensure naman ang food security sa ating bansa.

(We are not going to surrender to the problem that has arrived that we have to give focus and pay attention to, so that we can maintain our productivity levels that we have to have, to ensure food security for our country.)

All things considered, the ASF is notsimply a test of the leadership of the Secretary of Agriculture – it is a test of the resilience of the Filipino.@517