17 January 2020

To Address The Need For Food, Address The Need For The New Thinking For Agriculture!


News from Rapplerby Sofia Tomacruz dated 16 January 2020[1]:

President Rodrigo Duterte has created a task force to address the root causes of hunger and to achieve food security in the country. ¶ Executive Order No 101 signed by Duterte on Friday, January 10, and shared with media Thursday, January (16), seeks to do this by tasking the group to create a "National Food Policy" that will outline the government's priorities and map efforts to achieve zero hunger. The plan will also include initiatives to improve nutrition, achieve food security, and promote sustainable agriculture.

On Facebook, Eufemio Rasco shared this advice: “The task force must start by recognizing that the issue of hunger is a systems issue, not merely production.” And I said, “agree with you 100%, dong!” And Ceferino Maala said, “Yes it is a (systems) issue. Job creation should be addressed (too). People lalo nat mga mahihirap(especially the poor) should have stable and decent income to be able to buy nutritious food. Kung dole out na naman yan na gaya ng 4Ps (if it is dole out just like the 4 Ps), it will fail again.”

You know what? Everything is a systems issue.
Yes, we all need to make a paradigm shift here.

Like me. I was sadly looking at it as a glass half-empty, before I decided to be happily looking at it as a glass half-full. The pessimist loses; the optimist wins!

Here we are going after a national food policy that takes care of:
zero hunger + nutrition + food security + sustainable agriculture.

I say: What an assignment!

The task force will be chaired by a Cabinet Secretary (no name mentioned), with the Social Welfare Secretary as Vice Chairperson. Members are the heads of the following 10 Departments: Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Budget & Management, Education, Environment & Natural Resources, Health, Interior & Local Government, Labor & Employment, Science & Technology, and Trade & Industry; and 3 other bodies: Commission on Higher Education, National Economic & Development Authority, and Presidential Communications Operations Office.

I say: What an august body!
In fact, I see a bigger picture.

Being a member of the interagency task force, as head of the Department of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie can now easily connect and call on any of those government bodies to help implement his “New Thinking for Agriculture” that is embodied in his “Eight Paradigms,” and push mightily towards sustainable agriculture!

He does not say it, but yes, we can certainly say that the new paradigms for the new thinking has one great aim: Sustainable Agriculture!

Now then, I would not be surprised if The National Food Policy that the task force will come up with will be suffused with programs and projects aimed ultimately at? What else: Sustainable Agriculture.

I repeat: Whether they realize it or not, the activities of the task force will ultimately be directed to bring about Sustainable Agriculture. So, we greet you “Happy New Year!” President Duterte, for your EO 101.@517








[1]https://www.rappler.com/nation/249479-duterte-task-force-address-hunger-food-nutrition



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