Not wishful thinking
but willful thinking!
In time, we will welcome in, Sir!
In time, we will welcome in, Sir!
You were in India for 15 years as Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, so you know how the Indians think. This radical idea is from Devinder Sharma, extraordinary Indian head, heart & hands, tireless writer and worker and speaker, now referred to as the "Voice of the 99%," 69 years old, a multi-awarded journalist – see his "About Me" (Ground Reality, devinder-sharma.blogspot.com). Haha, I have only 1 award, "Outstanding Alumnus For Creative Writing" given by the UPLB Alumni Association, 2011, and next month I will be 10 years older. But I'm good, thank God, With your ICRISAT publishing 7 books of mine, thank you, I am ready to tackle the outside world even while sitting before my "PC Surround Setup" in my room at home. Happily communicating science for agriculture.
Mr Sharma says:
"Make No Mistake: Agriculture Alone Has The Potential To Reboot The Economy" (13 July 2019, National Herald, nationalheraldindia.com).
Specifically, Mr Sharma writes: "My understanding is that only agriculture can reboot the economy, sustain millions of livelihoods, and reduce global warming."
Wow! I agree 100%.
A son of a farmer who sent 2 sons to college from earnings mostly on vegetables grown on bangkag(dryland), 1965 BSA major in Ag Education from UP Los Baños, I Filipino peripatetic mind salute peripatetic Indian mind Mr Sharma as thinker and tinkerer.
We can do it, Sir! I know that in Erap's time, you were the Secretary of Agriculture who caused the highest growth in agriculture in the history of the Philippines, "a stunning 9.6%, the highest growth rate in the post-Edsa 1 period," according to Benjamin E Diokno, former Budget Secretary ("Agriculture Has Been Left Behind," `10 June 2015, BusinessWorld, bworldonline.com).
You make history again, Sir, and we would be very glad to help!
And so I say: "If we culture agriculture, we are going to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth!" (Genesis 1:28, KJV).
Nonetheless, Mr Sharma disappoints me when he welcomes India giving "direct income support" to farmers, currently US$7 per month per family. Whatever the amount, I do not believe that that is a good idea for Filipino farmers. "Direct income support" is giving alms, cultivating mendicancy instead of culturing business-mindedness. Thus, we will be nurturing millions of Lazy Juans in the Philippines!
Instead, the government, with help from the private sector, must make available loans of all kinds via multi-purpose cooperatives, MPCs. Via the MPCs, we encourage entrepreneurship, as Mr Dar does. For sustainable incomes, from sustainable environments.
Nonetheless, we must make sure each MPC is run like a business. This need I have seen as a Board Member of Asingan's Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative for years (see my essay, "A Coop Is Born. Will Nagkaisa Wake Asingan Up?" 23 October 2012, Nagkaisa, nagkaisa.blogspot.com).
To reboot the economy, materialize and maintain millions of jobs, and reduce global warming:
Government must help village coops
help their members rise from poverty.@517
help their members rise from poverty.@517
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