In rethinking Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie’s “New Thinking for Agriculture” with its embedded “Eight Paradigms,” today Thursday, 23 January 2020, I came to the realization that we need to add a Wizard of Os if we are to succeed in one of the prime goals of the new PH Agriculture: Entrepreneurship.
Yes! The 5 Os are: Obstacles, Opportunities, Options, Outputs and Outcomes - proceeding from production to marketing. That is to say, to train anyone senior, adult or young, on entrepreneurship, one must teach and go through the 5 Os.
Obstacles. What are the problems, complexities, lacks, insufficiencies that may be encountered along the way from old knowledge or new idea to the start of production up to marketing?
Opportunities. The obstacles must be viewed some other way. They may be re-viewed in perspective so that the opportunities may be discerned. Or, thinking out the obstacles, what are the scenarios, openings, prospects that can be considered as hiding some fruitful consequences?
Options. In this case, an option is a technology or system choice for operation anywhere and everywhere in the value chain. For instance, with what manner to engage: Loan or Self-Finance? Which crop to choose: Cacao or Rice? If cacao, nurse trees or wide field? If rice, direct seeding or transplanting? If transplanting, young or old seedlings? Organic or inorganic fertilizer? Processed or not processed? Sell to individual or institutional buyers? And so on and so forth.
Outputs. Outputs are: Food, Feed and Income. Your choice(s).
Outcomes. Does the income result in the farmer and his family being set free from poverty and sustained there? The image above intimates the ultimate goal – Prosperity from Agriculture.
The image of castle, from Pinterest[1], which I widened a little bit, is borrowed from the children’s fantasy tale Wizard of Oz imagined by L Frank Baum, and represents wealth honestly earned and truly deserved out of one’s travails & triumphs travelling along the Yellow Brick Road, in this case, from Agriculture (crops & livestock), and the related sciences of Horticulture (garden crops) and Agroforestry (farm crops growing with forest species as nurse or mother trees).
Ah, what’s the significance of today? The “A-Team” premiered on American NBC[2]. I loved the A-Team TV series because there was always fun; there was always a problem that got solved in the end with the genius of the team: Hannibal, Murdock, Face, and BA Baracus. Dave Lavinsky says[3]:
The TV series was a huge hit and made Mr T a household name. It didn't matter what the challenge (was), the team collaborated to create a viable solution, sometimes with only seconds to spare.
They were always funny, and always won. Always towards the end of the show. I loved the spirits of teamwork, fun and creativity, which should prevail even in agricultural pursuits.
Today, I imagine the A-Team would be looking at the 5 Os in trying to solve a problem or to get out of a sticky situation, which is how we should treat agriculture in order to triumph in the end!@517
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