Sleeping With Science, 2. Waking Up DoST From Its Rip Van Winkle Slumber On Science Stories!

PH’s Department of Science & Technology, DoST, at least 50 years old, starting with President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos’ National Science Development Board, NSDB. Now, in terms of NSDB/DoST science stories for people to learn more, I have not learned of any!

And I am a science journalist who was not born yesterday. So: In science stories, history repeat itself by not repeating itself.

I google for “philippines dost mandate” (without the double quotes) and I get a whole page that says, “Websites sometimes break. Please wait while we put it back together.”

That’s just what the doctor ordered!

Five minutes later… same story. Knowledge Unavailable: That is the inadvertent metaphor for me to describe DoST in relation to the science needs of us Filipinos in these helter-skelter, topsy-turvy, upside-down coronavirus lockdown times.

Here comes Director Richard P Burgos of DoST’s Science and Technology Information Institute, DoST-STII, saying (Allan Mauro V Marfal, 10 August 2020, “Science Communication Should Also Be A Priority In The Time Of Pandemic, Says Dost Exec[1]”):

With the emergence of the pandemic caused by Coronavirus Disease-2019 or COVID-19, reliable and well-researched content and materials have indeed become more imminent – to be able to explain science facts in simple terms that even non-scientists will understand.

I love what Mr Burgos is saying that science communication should be “a priority in the time of pandemic” – nobody else from the DoST has said that before.

Science journalists, please note: “Reliable and well-researched content and materials” refers to the communicator as actor actively seeking data & information, who must then explain science to the non-scientist.

Half a century. Now then, DoST must have theorized and studied much science, and now know more science more or less, but it has not been telling us much lately either.

And in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, now is the time for all good men to come to the literal aid of their country!

Actually, even from my alma mater UP Los Baños, with its own College of Development Communication, DevCom, I have yet to read a story that attempts “to explain science facts in simple terms that even non-scientists will understand.”

I myself began my personal campaign for writing science stories for non-science people some 40 years ago, when I published a technical paper on Communication for Development, ComDev, which I presented in contradistinction with the UPLB DevCom initiative, which did not specifically define communication as a support for development. Perhaps, the DevCom people were thinking that the term “development communication” already implies and mandates that the communication does support society’s growth efforts – well, they were/are still wrong.

According to “Super User[2]” (26 April 2014, dost.gov.ph website), the Long-Term Vision of the DoST is to be the “provider of world-class scientific, technological and innovative solutions that will lead to higher productivity and better quality of life.”

So, where are those higher and better stories, DoST? Wake up! Your sleep has been 2.5 times longer than of American Rip Van Winkle!@517

 

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[1]http://www.dost.gov.ph/knowledge-resources/news/67-2020-news/1904-science-communication-should-also-be-a-priority-in-the-time-of-pandemic-says-dost-exec.html

[2]http://www.dost.gov.ph/transparency/about-dost/mandate-mission-and-vision.html#:~:text=Executive%20Order%20No.,social%20benefits%20for%20the%20people”.

University Of The Philippines “Sleeping with Science.”

Yes, the entire UP System from UP Baguio to UP Mindanao has been asleep in these 6 months of coronavirus lockdown – The Silence of the Lame?

This UP Los Baños alumnus is saying, “UP is the University of Protests – why is not the System protesting against Ignorance and trying to Fill in the Gaps?” The Silence of the Limp?

UP has not been actively involved in the ups and downs of PH Agriculture and the travails of farmers as the coronavirus “solution” locked UP almost everything. The Silence of the Lamb?

What could have the UP System done, what can it do to help PH Agriculture from Aparri to Jolo? Much, even right now. There is:

Unlimited UP digital intellectual resources!

Virtual:

Demo farms.

Trainings.

Seminars.

Brochures.

Lectures.

Publications, even hundreds of them.

Think of all those as digital in existence, not physical – although they are based on the physical.

Also (examples):

UP Baguio – Show agroforestry, with pines as Mother Trees to the farm and garden crops.

UP Cebu – Show what Agriculture was like in Cebu before the Spaniards came.

UP Diliman – Show the Arts via the Digital.

UP Los Baños – Show how much Aggie Science remains to be published for the public good.

UP Manila – Show how Food is related to Human Health.

UP Mindanao – Show native agriculture in southern Philippines.

UP Open University – Show open-mindedness!

More to do:

According to Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, Philippine agri-fishery will have to be in the

Survive, Reboot, Grow continuum under the “New Normal.”

What is the UP System doing for its country?

There is much to consider, according to Mr Dar, in terms of the vision of:

A food secure & resilient Philippines with empowered & prosperous farmers and fisherfolk.

Production & Availability. Accessibility & Affordability. All these:

Systems. Such as agro-fishery value chain integration and logistics.

Products. Such as higher levels of nutritious food supplies.

People. Such as broadened access to support services by farmers. Such as entrepreneurial generation.

Institutions. Such as strengthening partnerships between government and private sectors.

Environment. Such as working for increased resilience, balanced, natural ecosystems.

And in the meantime the UP System is sleeping, its Digital Eyes shut!

Much earlier, straight from the headquarters of the DA, Mr Dar said[1] (29 April 2020, da.gov.ph):

The Covid-19 pandemic highlights the vulnerabilities of our current systems, particularly distorting the food supply chain and global trade. Therefore, it is imperative for the government to rethink and restructure its policies and practices to prevent from being overwhelmed by future crisis.

The University of the Philippines System belongs in Government. Wake up, UP!

First, we must simply surpass this global crisis. Then, under the ‘whole of nation approach,’ we should build our own resilience not only to threats like Covid-19, but also to emerging challenges like climate change.

After Covid-19, it will not be business as usual, and we should focus on three principles, namely: survive, reboot, and grow.

Shame on The UP System if it keeps on Sleeping with Science! To borrow from a UP alumnus, FM: “Nakakahiya!”@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/agri-fishery-sector-to-survive-reboot-and-grow-under-the-new-normal/

“Advice To Neophytes: Don’t Borrow From The Bank!” – Unkind Words From Jess Domingo

Unintended, I am sure, but that’s an insult to both the borrower as well as the bank.

From Facebook sharing by Nestor Maniebo Pestelos, a writing friend of college days 60 years ago, an article by another common friend, Magsaysay Award-winning and life-long successful aggie journalist Zac Sarian: “Advice To Neophytes: Don’t Borrow From The Bank[1]!” (14 August 2020, zacsarian.com):

I am shocked. Zac has been used to highattention-getting titles all these years – but times have drastically changed. Zac has to mind more the pandemic lockdown and what, among other things, it has been doing to our farmers. And, most of all, what Secretary of Agriculture William Dar has brought to Philippine Agriculture in the matter of inclusive development, what he calls “The New Thinking for Agriculture.” All that includes re-educating the Filipino farmer from his helpless, business-mindless ways.

Thus, as an aggie journalist self-crusading for new thinking for agriculture, I am shocked because Zac is also essentially pointing to banks as enemies of the farmers. This is Old Thinking.

In his article in his personal website, Zac says:

ON FINANCING – Domingo is a CPA and is an expert in money matters. How do you finance your farm project? He says that it is best to fully finance your project with your own money. If you have to borrow, borrow from relatives or friends who trust you. They will not be as demanding as a bank in getting back your loan.

Tell me how many farmers can you count on your 10 fingers who have their own money to fully finance their farming? My father, not a poor man, he had to borrow every planting season – he was notbusiness-minded. Farmers must learn to be business-minded.

In fact, Mr PH Secretary of Agriculture has been campaigning, among many other things, for banks, especially the LandBank, to assist farmers with adequate and affordable loans.

Singularly, I have been proselytizing for Super Coops since 6 years ago (see my essay, “The Super Coops of 2014[2],” 30 October 2014, Nagkaisa); Nagkaisa is our coop in my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan, where I was a board member. A Super Coop will supply all farmers’ needs, with super-friendly arrangements. Goodbye usurious 5-6 arrangements!

More. With a Super Coop helping, the farmer will avoid the mistake of Mr Domingo growing lettuce in Ifugao only to realize that he had no buyers! With further advice, the farmer will avoid the other mistake of Mr Domingo of growing beautiful Diamante-Max tomato of East-West Seeds and be offered a low price of P3/kilo. It’s not the place of growing crops – it’s the need you have to consider. Or build up. A Super Coop would do both for its members.

“It is best to fully finance your project with your money.” Mr Domingo doesn’t know that farmers hardly have money? And even if they had money, what about business-mindedness?

Farming in the Philippines is not as easy as ABC as Mr Domingo himself found out. I wish it were!@517

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[1]https://zacsarian.com/advice-to-neophytes-dont-borrow-from-the-bank/?fbclid=IwAR0BmcOo_dGrPuW61xa3EkzcNIAdKx1sjPN4WrMkiMwft4vV_OcBIQ1B4bE

[2]http://nagkaisa.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-super-coops-of-2014.html

Indigenous Knowledge As International Booboo In Agriculture And Conservation Journalism?

 

“Sustainability of indigenous knowledge, a winning combination” – I have seen this on Facebook so many times and a science communicator, I can’t help but comment on it now. This is communication that is miscommunicating!

Above, look at those 7 words again from Sustainable Research Innovation, SRI:

“Sustainability of indigenous knowledge, a winning combination”

First:
What in the world would make “a winning combination” with indigenous knowledge for sustainability?

Second:
How exactly do you combine to make them/it a winner?

Such constructions of concepts are the responsibilities of the Copywriter, Editor, and Leader of the SRI Sustainability Experts. In this case, they don’t know enough what they are saying?! Otherwise, I take it as an insult to me, a reader. (image of “I can explain it to you” from RedBubble[1])

It doesn’t matter who Mazzeillla Maniwavie, Robyn Ames, Cathy Robinson, Oliver Costello and Sara Philipps are – it’s the very careless statement that seems to come from them that bothers me as communicator.

Part of the text says, “increasing awareness of the sustainable way of living of indigenous populations as well as the deterioration of the conditions of the planet…”

This is what they are notsaying:

Indigenous Knowledge married to Experimental Knowledge.

Those ladies & gentleman should be intimating in their SRI announcement the new or improved sets & pieces that modern science have discovered or tinkered with that may work in favor of modern society’s needs:

That would be sustainability of indigenous knowledge with improvability of modern knowledge. Because? Indigenous knowledge cannot stand alone!

The problem is that those ladies & gentleman of SRI do not begin by inviting audience to watch and listen and then think for themselves, given such and such premises. The SRI experts just seem to want us not really to think for ourselves but to receive and rejoice with indigenous knowledge as understood by the experts.

In contrast, here is a balanced presentation of the concepts: Georgia Magni’s 2016 paper, “Indigenous Knowledge And Implications For The Sustainable Development Agenda[2]” (Unesdoc Digital Library). Miss Georgia says the aim of the Agenda is:

adaptation of technology to the local needs, the preservation of valuable local knowledge and the use of local skills in monitoring and early warning systems and (emphasizing) human needs and resources.

In the Philippines, are we doing this with the Cordillerans, the Maranaos, the Zambals for instance? Natives are worth every God-given gift like the rest of us. Indigenous knowledge is a gift that cannot simply be taken away in the name of “modern social needs.”

Through their research illustrating the utility of indigenous knowledge, these scholars attempted to raise awareness among policy makers and neoliberal economists of the importance of bottom-up perspectives to create more locally appropriate and environmentally sustainable solutions.

“Bottom-up perspectives” means you use indigenous knowledge to arrive at modern sustainable ways.

Communication is key. With indigenous knowledge, you do not simply adopt; you adapt. To adopt is to use 100%; to adapt is to use after modifying. Sustainability comes after adaptation, not adoption.@

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[1]https://www.redbubble.com/shop/i+can+explain+it+to+you+stickers

[2]https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245623

Vince Tejada’s Complaint – Using Your Coconut!

Above, the caption that Vince Tejada accompanies his image shared on Facebook is this (slightly edited):

It’s time to harvest mature nuts from my 60 coco trees and dry them for copra purposes. At 20 pesos per kg, I could hardly stretch for the wages of my landless farmhands. How I wish our government could do something to increase the buying price fair enough.

In those 48 words, Mr Tejada has captured much of the essentials of what ails Philippine Agriculture today – actually, what have been ailing this country’s farms and farming families:

Persistent Poverty.

It is very convenient to point to low prices of farm produce as the reason why farmers remain poor despite being industrious and persistent. All these we can glean from Mr Tejada’s Coconut Complaint:

(1)   His harvests of coconuts are for making copra only, no more.

(2)   He looks at his farm only as a coconut grove of 60 trees.

(3)   His farmhands rely only on the wages he gives them, seemingly.

(4)   Those coco farmhands are landless – that’s another problem.

For one, Mr Tejada seems not to have been looking at possibilities other than relying on his own copra-making to make a living for his coco hands. Why not coconut water and fresh buko?

For another, a coconut grove can be planted to other farm crops, as the image does show (intercropping image from PNGWing[1]). Those crops can be the sources of major incomes than the coconut, if only they were taken good care of.

So, I have found the proverbial Filipino Juan Tamad – Johnny The Lazy – It is the coconut farmer!

More. Mr Tejada’s farmhands can raise native chickens in the meantime that they wait for the nuts to become ready to harvest. Those native birds are easy to raise – all they need is a little attention.

And no: Landlessness is not the problem that those who believe in agrarian reform believe – lack of land ownership is not the shackle that binds the farmers to poverty:

The farmers are poor because of themselves.
And because of us!

The farmers insist on borrowing from usurers, even if they know that each usurer is like Shakespeare’s Shylock always wanting to exact his pound of flesh from those who cannot pay back their loans sooner, or later. That is why I have been campaigning for supercharged multipurpose cooperatives – I call them “Super Coops” – to help farmer members do their farming, from buying seeds to selling their produce and gaining enough returns for respectable, sustainable lives.

Land ownership does not get you anywhere, just like the poor farmers who have had their lands since Martial Law – no improved lives. Division is not the answer; Subdivision is – you create a collection of farms and consolidate your operations. Another way of putting that is from Secretary of Agriculture William Dar: farm clustering (see my essay, “The New 7 Arts Of War – Against PH Farmer Poverty, Via Clustering[2],” 05 August 2020, THiNK Journalism).

Mr Tejada, a coconut grove is a cluster not only of trees but opportunities!@517

 

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[1]https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-sjckj

[2]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-new-7-arts-of-war-against-ph-farmer.html

Digital ATI – PH, The Best Is Yet To Come!

Today, when more farmers want to learn more, you better teach much better – and more intelligently!

Learning agriculture can now 
become more exciting – if ATI 
becomes more excited.

News: In faraway Visayas, “Governor Asks ATI To Accredit More Agricultural Learning Sites In Bohol[1]” reports Minerva Newman (07 August 2020, Manila Bulletin):

Bohol Governor Arthur Yap (has) asked the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI-7) to support farming learning centers and accredit more agricultural learning sites in his bid to push and boost food security through massive production, especially now that the COVID-19 crisis and home quarantine (have) forced more families to focus on backyard farming/agriculture for (their) own food (supplies).

“Massive production” – more food grown by more families for themselves. Mr Yap, a former PH Secretary of Agriculture, sees the need for much more food produced locally. I wonder what other PH governors are thinking during these lockdown times.

He needs more help. Mr Yap asks “to support farming learning centers” – fund and/or equip existing centers; “to accredit more agricultural learning sites” – add to the physical fields already being used for training.

In fact, under Bohol Regional Director Carolyn Mae Daquio, ATI-7 has accredited 19 Agricultural Learning Sites “where people who are inclined to learn about new agricultural technologies can go, practice and learn.” Miss Carolyn says those learning centers are actually farms in operation strategically located in the 3 districts of Bohol.

We should all be inclined. Those 19 sites are not enough. (Imagine if all governors of 81 PH provinces asked for more learning sites simultaneously? Not bad, but there would be national pandemonium!)

Anticipating, I have already recommended that ATI make all training digital – theories, practices, techniques, tips, lessons captured in various digital formats – available anytime, anyplace, anywhere (see my essay, “From 16 Weeks To 1-Day Organic Farming Training – Farmers Learning Digital, Trainors First![2]”)

In 2 words, I am recommending a thoroughly:

Digital ATI.

And so I present a borrowed image above, that of “e-learning access” (from TheStar[3]) – where you see several mouses simultaneously searching for data or information or insight from the digital universe of knowledge.

Limited to 6 mouses simultaneously clicking? No! You can multiply them into 600 or 6000 clicking on the same icon or object at the same time, and there would not be a noticeable delay. That is a digital field for learning – much unlike a physical field for learning, where you can accommodate only so many physical bodies.

Digital ATI whole hog is the way to go!

For everyone, not only in Bohol but ATI anywhere can make digital records of farming from planning to producing to postharvest handling to promoting, with video, audio and captions. Plus countless downloadable reading materials.

No only 19 learning sites, you can have 19 times 1,000 sites visited digitally at anytime!

I notice the Bohol learning sites are all for organic farming. PH Agriculture needs more learning opportunities. Organic, inorganic, hybrid, inbred, SRI, multiple cropping – more choices, options. What’s digital for?!

Digital ATI. Anyhow, for all Choosers and Learners!@517

 

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/07/governor-asks-ati-to-accredit-more-agricultural-learning-sites-in-bohol/?fbclid=IwAR3zHxogHUeDTbyad3_FV_XIi4Pr8X3lrHOwRTSFhf2Zodgxey9tYr_9EHM

[2]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/08/from-16-weeks-to-1-day-organic-farming.html

[3]https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2020/05/03/improve-e-learning-access-and-make-it-a-permanent-feature

Digital ATI – PH, The Best Is Yet To Be!

Today, when more farmers want to learn more, you better teach much better – and more intelligently!

Learning agriculture can now
become more exciting – if ATI
becomes more excited.

News: In faraway Visayas, “Governor Asks ATI To Accredit More Agricultural Learning Sites In Bohol[1]” reports Minerva Newman (07 August 2020, Manila Bulletin):

Bohol Governor Arthur Yap (has) asked the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI-7) to support farming learning centers and accredit more agricultural learning sites in his bid to push and boost food security through massive production, especially now that the COVID-19 crisis and home quarantine (have) forced more families to focus on backyard farming/agriculture for (their) own food (supplies).

“Massive production” – more food grown by more families for themselves. Mr Yap, a former PH Secretary of Agriculture, sees the need for much more food produced locally. I wonder what other PH governors are thinking during these lockdown times.

He needs more help. Mr Yap asks “to support farming learning centers” – fund and/or equip existing centers; “to accredit more agricultural learning sites” – add to the physical fields already being used for training.

In fact, under Bohol Regional Director Carolyn Mae Daquio, ATI-7 has accredited 19 Agricultural Learning Sites “where people who are inclined to learn about new agricultural technologies can go, practice and learn.” Miss Carolyn says those learning centers are actually farms in operation strategically located in the 3 districts of Bohol.

We should all be inclined. Those 19 sites are not enough. (Imagine if all governors of 81 PH provinces asked for more learning sites simultaneously? Not bad, but there would be national pandemonium!)

Anticipating, I have already recommended that ATI make all training digital – theories, practices, techniques, tips, lessons captured in various digital formats – available anytime, anyplace, anywhere (see my essay, “From 16 Weeks To 1-Day Organic Farming Training – Farmers Learning Digital, Trainors First![2]”)

In 2 words, I am recommending a thoroughly:

Digital ATI.

And so I present a borrowed image above, that of “e-learning access” (from TheStar[3]) – where you see several mouses simultaneously searching for data or information or insight from the digital universe of knowledge.

Limited to 6 mouses simultaneously clicking? No! You can multiply them into 600 or 6000 clicking on the same icon or object at the same time, and there would not be a noticeable delay. That is a digital field for learning – much unlike a physical field for learning, where you can accommodate only so many physical bodies.

Digital ATI whole hog is the way to go!

For everyone, not only in Bohol but ATI anywhere can make digital records of farming from planning to producing to postharvest handling to promoting, with video, audio and captions. Plus countless downloadable reading materials.

No only 19 learning sites, you can have 19 times 1,000 sites visited digitally at anytime!

I notice the Bohol learning sites are all for organic farming. PH Agriculture needs more learning opportunities. Organic, inorganic, hybrid, inbred, SRI, multiple cropping – more choices, options. What’s digital for?!

Digital ATI. Anyhow, for all Choosers and Learners!@517

 

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/07/governor-asks-ati-to-accredit-more-agricultural-learning-sites-in-bohol/?fbclid=IwAR3zHxogHUeDTbyad3_FV_XIi4Pr8X3lrHOwRTSFhf2Zodgxey9tYr_9EHM

[2]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/08/from-16-weeks-to-1-day-organic-farming.html

[3]https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2020/05/03/improve-e-learning-access-and-make-it-a-permanent-feature