Pinoy Media 7 – You Mind Duterte, Guo, Quiboloy Etc, But You Don’t Mind The 3 Million Poor Filipino Farmers!

Today, 7 AM Saturday, 28 Sept 2024, I google as follows:

news "alice guo"
news "sara duterte"
news “quiboloy”
and I get these results: 300,000 for Alice Guo, 324,000 for Sara Duterte, and an astounding 11,400,000 for Quiboloy!

For "poor filpino farmers" I get only 31,000 results – almost 10 times less than Guo, 11 times less than Sara, and 40 times less than Quiboloy. The message I get is that Pinoy Media are very much interested in the sensational, and hardly interested in Filipino farmers who find life always challenging them – And there are 3 million of them!

Why are Pinoy Media not mediating for our 3 million Filipino farmers?
(bottom image from timetoast.com)

(1)   Not understanding agriculture is not a good reason – Pinoy Media should be able to understand what is poverty.

(2)   Not understanding the reasons for Farmer Poverty – instead, that should be an excellent reason for Pinoy Media to search for understanding!

(3)   Not knowing that there are 3 million Filipino farmers who are poor – all the more reason Pinoy Media should find out more!

All the numbers tell me the media are very much interested in the sensational and not much interested in the downtrodden.

The image above, from youtube.com, says:

Her FATHER is crying too!
Heck, her mother and brother are crying as well!
Crying because of poverty.

Don’t tell me the girl in the image does not look poor – you don’t have to look poor if you are poor.

Actually, 3 million poor Filipino farmers are not only 3 million – if each one has 3 other members in the family, then there are 9 million poor family members among poor Filipino farmers!

In any case, I write persistently about those poor farming families because I know that farming does not need to cause poverty and in fact can give rise to healthy and wealthy Filipino families!

The single & primary reason Filipino farmers are poor is that they practice Chemical Agriculture (CA); CA is Very High Costs and Very Low Returns (VHC-VLR). I insist that our farmers practice instead Regenerative Agriculture (RA); RA is Very Low Costs-Very High Returns (VLC-VHR)!

That’s the plain economics that I know about Filipino farming. I am an agriculturist (BSA major in Ag Educ, UP Los Baños 1965) – and that’s enough economics for me! The economics of farming of those 9 million Filipinos is bad enough for them!

So, what are our Pinoy Media waiting for in order to serve the poor Filipino farmers? No, I do not suggest that they practice negative journalism – their journalism must be what I call “THiNK! Journalism” that goes like this:

Is it True? If True,
is it Helpful? If Helpful,
is it Inspiring? If Inspiring,
is it Necessary? If Necessary,
is it Kind? THiNK!

Pinoy Media, THiNK! Journalism should make you think! Pinoy Media, I don’t mean for you to follow exactly my thinking, but I beg you to fight for those 3 million poor Filipino farmers – Beginning Now, Today!@517

Pinoy Media 6 – “Choose Truth?” PH Journalists, To Celebrate World News Day, We Go Beyond Truth! Let Me Introduce You To My “THiNK! Journalism“

Today, Thursday, 26 Sept 2024, I see on Facebook the above post with the message from World News Day – “Choose Truth.”

What about “World News Day”? The website says (World News Day, worldnewsday.org):

World News Day is a global initiative to draw public attention to the role that journalists play in providing trustworthy news and information that serves citizens and democracy. World News Day takes place annually on September 28.

It’s 26 September 2024 as I write this, that is, 9 days after my birthday, 17 Sept. As a writer, I did not always think like this:

World News Day demands: “Choose Truth.” My immediate reaction is this: “Why not Choose Kindness?!” Kindness will never get anybody into trouble!

World News Day is presented by the World Editors Forum, the Canadian Journalism Foundation and Daily Maverick’s Project Kontinuum. Sorry. I have no problem with “World News Day” but I do have a problem with the slogan, “Choose Truth.”

“Choose Truth” – That speaks of Truth Journalism, the kind that won PH Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Sorry, not my kind of peace prize.

Now then, you can say that Frank A Hilario is not going after the Nobel; rather, the prize he is after is the Novel THINK Prize – after his THiNK! Journalism creed.

“THiNK! Journalism” is very much unlike Maria Ressa’s or anyone else’s Truth Journalism – the latter starts and stops at “Truth”!

You see: Truth Journalism cannot even pass the Rotary 4-Way Test:

1.    Is it the truth?

2.    Is it fair to all concerned?

3.    Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

4.    Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

My kind of journalism that I call ‘THiNK! Journalism” goes like this:

True? If True, is it
Helpful? If Helpful, is it
Inspiring? If Inspiring, is it
Necessary? If necessary, is it
Kind? THINK!
(bottom image from my collection)

To follow the World News Day’s mantra “Choose Truth” is to avoid being Helpful as well as being Inspiring and being Necessary and being Kind all at the same time! Not my kind of journalism.

Going on beyond today, I am pursuing Regenerative Agriculture (RA), that which is both Mother Nature-friendly and farmer-friendly. I can say RA is THINKing Agriculture:

True: RA requires minimum total costs, with no expensive chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides.
Helpful: RA requires no external inputs, only farmer crops, natural materials & methods.
Inspiring: RA encourages natural processes to proceed and produce healthy harvests of healthy foods.
Necessary: RA follows the laws of Mother Nature, all of them.
Kind: RA repays the farmer with maximum returns!

I hereby rename “Regenerative Agriculture” as “THiNK Agriculture” (TA) with these TA 13 practices:

(1) Cover Cropping, (2) Crop Rotation, (3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry), (4) Green Manuring, (5) Intercropping, (6) Multiple Cropping, (7) No-Till Farming, (8) Organic Fertilization, (9) Ratooning, (10) Rotational Grazing, (11) “Three Sisters” Planting, (12) Trap Cropping, (13) Trash Mulching.

THiNK!@517

Pinoy Media 5 – As A Crusading Agriculturist, I Hereby Challenge 13 Media In The Philippines To Come Out & Fight Against Poverty Of 03 Million Filipino Farmers!

PH media, Wake up! If you truly care for the Philippines, I recommend a safe topic for activism on paper, and/or in the digital world, and/or in public for a fight for national PH sanity –

Down Farmer Poverty!
Up Farmer Prosperity!

To fight poverty, “Media 13,” PH media, I beg 13 of you to individually and/or commonly convince the PH Department of Agriculture (DA) to adopt officially the 13 practices under the concept of Regenerative Agriculture (RA) and to assign PhP 13 million to the whole “Media 13 Program.” Note: Where “media” means is (1) “tool for communication” such as radio, tv; (2) “material or method for growing something” such as soil, system, and technology (my examples). Each of the 13 practices under RA contains the media for growing a crop – the soil plus the weeds and/or crop refuse.

I think of each of my “Media 13” as a medium reinforcing the positive, as do indeed the 13 practices under RA:

(1) Cover Cropping, (2) Crop Rotation, (3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry), (4) Green Manuring, (5) Intercropping, (6) Multiple Cropping, (7) No-Till Farming, (8) Organic Fertilization, (9) Ratooning, (10) Rotational Grazing, (11) “Three Sisters” Planting, (12) Trap Cropping, (13) Trash Mulching.

What about “13” as an unlucky number? Natalie Grice says in, “Why Do We Still Avoid The Number 13?” 13 June 2024, BBC, bbc.com): “(Cardiff University lecturer Dr Juliette Wood) believes it is essentially a media creation.” Media, you cannot be afraid of your own creation!

So, why don’t 13 media from the Philippines demand that the DA explain to the public why the department is silent about Regenerative Agriculture!

On the other hand, Pinoy media, let us convince the radical farmers and their sympathizers to demonstrate, not in the streets with placards and thereby endangering themselves physically – that’s not intelligent. But to demonstrate for what they need to rise from poverty, using science – that’s intelligent!
(Image sources: top, dreamstime.com; bottom ph.pinterest.com)

Think like this – Forget the expensive chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides (comprising Chemical Agriculture) that they have been using.

Instead, think of Very Low Costs-Very High Returns (VLC-VHR) farming, via Regenerative Agriculture. No, you have not heard of Regenerative Agriculture (RA), of course! Not even the heads of our PH Department of Agriculture (DA) want to talk about it! That tells us they are interested in their jobs, but not so much in serving the farmers, especially the poor!

From Poverty, the path to Prosperity is (I repeat from above): Very Low Costs with Very High Returns (VLC-VHR).

Let Media 13 call on the militants to demonstrate in the name of millions of poor Filipino farmers not against but to call the attention of the sleeping Philippine Rip Van Winkle-like Secretary of Agriculture Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr!

And how will the militants demonstrate their call for the PH government to elevate the farmers from poverty to prosperity? Good question!

Needed, MAN – Media Action Now!@517

Pinoy Media Interruption 2 – PH Media, To Learn More On Your Own, Try Bombarding Your Questions To The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)

Ladies & gentlemen of PH media – Please keep in mind & heart the sad state of 3 million poor Filipino farmers, and you will continue to be inspired to find out more about, write for, campaign for them! Note: These institutions do not speak for those poor farmers: international IRRI, Philippines’ own PhilRice and University of the Philippines Los Baños! You are media, and you have the duty and the right to mediate for those farmers suffering from poverty! 
(image sources: top in.pinterest.com, bottom vrogue.co)

Know that there is now the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), which used to be the Bureau of Agricultural Extension (BAEx). Now, how has ATI fulfilled its mandate?

At its website, ATI (ati2.da.gov.ph) says:

(The) Agricultural Training Institute is the capacity(-)builder, knowledge bank and catalyst of the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries extension system.

Nota bene: ATI is the (1) capacity-builder, (2) knowledge base and (3) catalyst of the agriculture & fisheries extension system.

“Knowledge base”? Here is the result of my search for ATI knowledge (as is, not italicized):
Philippines "Agricultural Training Institute" "cropping systems" "costs & returns"
Results? Zero!

That tells me that ATI is busy training farmers but not training them to count the costs and returns of farming! My question: Why not?!

I’m particularly disappointed that ATI is not concerned with costs & returns – ATI doesn’t know that that would tell anyone if the farming or fishing effort is economical or rewarding?

The ATI website says:

“The Institute continues to explore various areas of collaboration and partnership for its agricultural extension initiatives to ensure that the farmers and fishers can maximize the services designed to uplift their living conditions.”

“Designed to uplift their living conditions” is welcome – but that is short of “designed to uplift them from poverty to prosperity”!

ATI seems to be concentrating on “Rural-Based Organizations” (RBOs). The website says, “ATI also adopts holistic approaches and strategies to encourage engagement and commitment among the said stakeholders [RBOs] to bring about significant changes in the countryside.” The website does not explain what it means by “significant changes in the countryside.”

Elsewhere, there is the National Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Program (NUPAP). The website says:

“NUPAP is one of the banner programs of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to promote urban and peri-urban agriculture and other emerging agriculture practices through agricultural extension and training programs.”

Also:

“The ATI implements the ATIng Gulayan Community Garden where technical and financial assistance are provided to community gardens if they meet the basic requirements for the establishment of integrated urban agriculture gardens. Interested barangays with vacant spaces for setting up communal gardens either vertical or plot gardens can qualify for the assistance provided under the program. Likewise, homeowners’ associations, schools, and universities in urban areas can also be tapped to establish their vegetable gardens.”

Alas and alack! Nothing said about ATI training and/or helping farmers and gardeners to always win in their cost-and-returns efforts – low costs with high returns. I wonder why?!@517

Pinoy Media Interruption 1 – Neglect, The Aggie Extension People Are Not Doing Their Jobs! The Urgent Need To Regenerate Pinoy Media In Handling Matters Of Agriculture Remains

Education: Here is an Indian journalist, female, un/intentionally waking up media people of all sexes in all Asian countries – Anjana Nair, Group Editor, Agriculture Today (agriculturetoday.in). She writes on “The Changing Dynamics of Agri Journalism in India” (12 May 2023, “Agricultural Extension In South Asia,” Blog 199, aesanetwork.org) – which I see applies to worldwide aggie extension efforts/non-efforts!

Ms Anjana says:

“Agriculture Extension … means ‘to expand or extend’ the work of universities beyond the campus and into the neighbouring community. It is essentially meant to transmit the practices and knowledge in agriculture to the end user – the farmers – in a language that is suitable and clear to them.”

Whatever. I know that in the Philippines, aggie extension has been neglected all these years! I know; as an alumnus of the #1 aggie university of my country, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and I haven’t heard or read about UPLB extension efforts to the farmers. “UPLB, let me tell you that this is extremely important today because we have 2-3 million Filipino farmers who are classified poor!”

I found out just now, from a PH “Office Of The Municipal Agriculturist” (quezon-nviscaya.gov.ph):

The Office of the Municipal Agricultur(ist) is an agency of the Philippine government responsible for the promotion of the Agriculture & Fisheries development and growth. In partnership with the Department of Agriculture, provide(s) benefits of development to the poor, especially in the rural areas. (underscoring supplied)

Beautifully said. But where is that partnership? Very sad that the “benefits of development” have not reached the 2-3 million poor farmers all over the Philippines! I have neither heard of nor seen any national program to deliver science to the farmers for them to benefit from new or verified knowledge in agriculture.

I quote Ms Anjana again:

“Journalism is the systematic and reliable dissemination of public information, public opinion and public entertainment by modern mass communication media. Agricultural journalism is a specialized branch of journalism which exclusively deals with disseminating information gathered from different sources in a presentable format through various media, such as newspapers, periodicals, radio, TV, (I)nternet, advertising, and so on. The process is elaborate and entails several phases: receiving news, writing it up in the appropriate format, editing the content, and then reporting it through the relevant media. The content, most often will be supported by photographs, and dissemination happens through newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet. And as agriculture bloomed and matured, the branch of agriculture journalism has also diversified.”
(Images: top, can’tfindsourceanymore; bottom, sg.images.search.yahoo.com)

I say: “Diversified media, powerful – so little media efforts for and in favor of the farmers getting out of poverty!”

We have modern communication media – I note the ubiquitous cellphone today – but we have Rip Van Winkle-kinds of aggie extensionists in the universities or in DA offices or in the municipalities! Like: Why is the office of the Municipal Agricultural Officer (MAO) not media active in extension? MAOs, be active yourselves!@517

Pinoy Media 4 – PH Media People: We Need To And We Can Save 3 Million Filipino Farmers From Poverty, Our Welcome Tool Is? “Regenerative Journalism”!

Continuing, A Beautiful Hope to save some 3 million Filipino farmers from their poverty is via Regenerative Journalism (RJ). That is why I have so far come out with 3 new “Pinoy Media” articles in this old blog of mine; this is the 4^th  RJ article. No, we cannot hope for the PH Department of Agriculture (DA) to rescue those farmers from poverty because, since 2022, when Pres Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr appointed himself Secretary of Agriculture, unceremoniously easing out William Dar, the government’s priority is “low price of rice” for consumers and not considering “low costs with high returns” for farmers! BBM blotted out the “New Thinking for Agriculture” of Mr Dar.

The image above is from Victor Mine (vectormine.com), depicting “Regenerative agriculture and sustainable crops farming.” Sorry, the original whole image is not quite clear; none of the component images is clear – ah, that’s exactly how things stand up in the world of Regenerative Agriculture (RA) – “status malabo pa!” Status yet unclear!

If I remember right, I started writing earnestly about RA on 22 April 2019 (see my article “To Solve Climate Change, Look Beneath Your Feet – Jean-Paul Courtens” (Ctrl-Click this to get there: blogspot.com), but I have yet to read about RA from the DA or aggie institutions in the country, alphabetically now: IRRI, PhilRice, UP Los Baños (my alma mater). That tells me not a single agricultural institution in PH is interested in Very Low Costs-Very High Returns (VLC-VHR) agriculture, which describes RA. In that case, those institutions are all Rip Van Winkles sleeping 100 years on the job since UP Los Baños was founded in 1918. Wake up, Rip Van Winkles!

Nonetheless, I am sure Mr Mine’s list (suggested in the image above) is very different from my own, “Frank’s List” of practices of RA, which is this:

1, Cover Cropping
2, Crop Rotation
3, Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry)
4, Green Manuring
5, Intercropping
6, Multiple Cropping
7, No-Till Farming
8, Organic Fertilization
9, Ratooning
10, Rotational Grazing
11, “Three Sisters” Planting
12, Trap Cropping
13, Trash Mulching.

Serendipitously, it so happens that I am watching on my double screen a slideshow of my own photographs of the day UP Los Baños celebrated its 100^th anniversary: 2018. A happy occasion. Also unhappy, as I see no signs, placards, or banners about caring for the farmers and improving their lives via modern agriculture.

By the way, mine is the above listing of 13 practices of Regenerative Agriculture; American gentleman farmer Robert Rodale originated the concept of “Regenerative Agriculture,” coming out with it sometime in 1989 or thereabouts (Rodale Institute, “The Original Principles of Regenerative Agriculture,” 14 June 2018, Rodale Institute, rodaleinstitute.org).

Pinoy Media people! We have a duty to the millions of poor Filipino farmers! We can do it – we don’t have to be experts in science, just practicing Regenerative Journalism – we simply ask the scientists to explain to the farmers the science of Regenerative Agriculture!@517

Pinoy Media 3 – Rappler, As PH Fightingest Journalists, How About Leading A PH Media Pack To Urge Millions Of Poor Filipino Farmers To Get Out Of Poverty On Their Own?

Read my title again – At first, it sounds impossible, right? Right! As a creative thinker, I say that if you are not challenged by the impossible, it is not a challenge at all!

My 3^rd attempt. Yes, I’m trying to convince PH media people to carry out a digital campaign that has been waged by none of PH media, individual or group of reporters: To get 3 million Filipino farmers out of poverty! President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr is not talking about it. All the more reason to pick up the cross and carry it!

I blogger am an independent journalist – we journalists should show we care about poverty. Especially about the millions of poor Filipino farmers who toil day and even night, and yet are rewarded with undeserved Very Low Returns from Very High Costs! Saving those millions from poverty is something we can do while we sit on our favorite chair – now, I’ m telling you!

The message to the farmers is simply this: “Low Costs, High Returns.” That, any farmer will understand easily. But we have to convince him to try it.

So we need a dedicated group of journalists, led by the fightingest and most-honored Rappler, to sell the idea of Regenerative Agriculture (RA), which comprises the following 13 practices:
(image from rappler.com)

1, Cover Cropping
2, Crop Rotation
3, Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry)
4, Green Manuring
5, Intercropping
6, Multiple Cropping
7, No-Till Farming
8, Organic Fertilization
9, Ratooning
10, Rotational Grazing
11, “Three Sisters” Planting
12, Trap Cropping
13, Trash Mulching.

Any farmer can choose any of the 13 for her/his farming.

You or the farmers don’t have any idea about any of the 13? That’s why you should form a group dedicated to what I call “Regenerative Journalism” (Reg Journalism) and each of you becomes a Reg Journalist.

You need to form the group, so that you have the credibility to ask physically or digitallyabout any or all of the 13 RA practices from scientists in any of the following institutions : IRRI (located in Los Baños), PhilRice (Muñoz, Nueva Ecija), or UP Los Baños (Los Baños).

Remember, our current agriculture can be translated into this Economic Equation:

Very High Cost = Very Low Returns.

Repeat: BBM is talking only of low price of rice. And how do you get that except at the expense of farmers who have to deal with the high costs of growing rice! In that instance, BBM is not pro-farmer, only pro-rice consumer!

I just googled, and I see that American journalists are only starting to realize that RA is solution to Climate Change – they are not yet talking about Farmer Poverty.

Since nobody else is pro-farmer, let us PH journalists bind together and wage a communication campaign for Very Low Costs-Very High Returns Agriculture!

Campaigning with farmers to resolve their own poverty – Count me out – I have good thoughts but bad ears!@517