Ivatan Farming – If You Want To Learn About Food Sufficiency, Come & Visit Batanes

 

It’s not theoretical; it is real, applied – and it has been applied and re-applied since the Ivatans, people of Batanes, learned to live with the moods & caprices of Mother Nature. Batanes is a Brave Old World such as it is.

In the image above, “Batanes, Go Organic” is a slogan, but it only emphasizes what is true, working, applicable in this northern part of the Philippines:

Self-sufficient, organic farming with root crops such as sweet potato, garlic, shallot, and onions.

“Self-sufficient” means you have everything you need, especially food – you do not need any other food item in the menu. The Ivatans have no fowls or livestock – the birds and animals cannot survive the harsh climate.

Says Alyssa Leyda-Aldemo(19 August 2020, “Batanes Go Organic Honors Ivatan Farming And Sustains Food Sufficiency[1],” Good News Pilipinas):

The sea-view farm at Naidi Hills has already produced more than 20 tons of agricultural products such as sweet potato, corn, watermelon, and a variety of vegetables.

The famous Naidi Hills are in Basco, capital of Batanes. The sea-view is meant to attract farm tourists.

Miss Alyssa says, “These are the Ivatan ways of farming (that) are 100% organic” and now are being displayed in that sea-view location:

Planting of typhoon-resistant crops – Because typhoons can ruin any good harvest above ground, the Ivatans focus on planting root crops such as sweet potato, garlic, shallots, and onions.

Crop rotation – This is the growing of different types of crops on the same land, season to season. There are no crop repeats.

Water harvesting – Ivatans make the most of the rain by having rain collectors instead of constructing expensive irrigation systems. Springs and deep wells are their other sources of water.

Fallowing – The land is plowed and tilled but left unseeded, giving it time to rest and restore nutrients, or for grazing cattle. This system enables the maintenance of soil health.

Delineation of areas – The stone houses of Ivatans are separated from farming areas, effectively preventing unintended contamination of crops from household chemicals.

As a graduate of UP College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, with a BS in Agriculture major in Ag Education, I know that crop rotation is a good practice for most types of farms – except that most Filipino farmers don’t practice crop rotation – it’s mostly rice, rice, rice, rice, rice! And then they complain that the yields are going down. And so they apply more chemical fertilizers because these are the ones that are swift-acting, that give the fastest results. Our lowland farmers have to learn from the Ivatans!

No, our lowland farmers do not practice fallowing – they plant their fields season after season after season, giving the land no time to rest and replenish its own fertility.

No expensive irrigation systems for the Ivatans. They collect the rainwater. They also tap the spring water and deep wells.

What do we have with the Ivatans? 100% organic farming.
Crop rotation. Fallowing. Typhoon-resistant crops.
If you pay attention to Mother Nature, she will teach you!@517

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[1]https://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/batanes-go-organic-honors-ivatan-farming-and-sustains-food-sufficiency/?fbclid=IwAR1mI7jt-m2DY2Tun4sjLDvvZlYwI-NojkRI4R4uPxBZ2cvjTFG_RdtsYdU

UPLB Students Living In The Past, Not In The Current Digital Present!

 

“Businesses Urged To Gear Up For Digital Economy[1]” by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez (29 August 2020, PhilStar Global). And UP Los Baños will simply ignore this call of the times?!

As a University of the Philippines Los Baños, UPLB graduate of 1965, as a nonstop crusading writer for agriculture & agroforestry since 1975, as a self-imposed indefatigable self-trained blogger since 2005, as a work from home, WFH, since 2007, I continue to espouse, among other causes, the intellectual contributions of my alma mater in terms of inclusive development for the whole Philippines.

Above, the image of students protesting is from the Facebook 28 August 2020 sharing of UPLB Perspective;[2] the image of field under research[3] is from Curtin University, Au. I believe the field research is more relevant to the Filipinos (and the Australians) than the student protests of UPLB.

“UPLB Stakeholders Prefer A ‘Pro-Student, Pro-People’ Chancellor,” writes PB Yapjoco:

In the search (for) the next UPLB Chancellor, statements from numerous student institutions, the ‘Vibe Check’ election polls, and the No to Third Term Coalition (N3TC) all convey the same message: “Heed the students’ concerns!”

With elections deemed exclusive to the Board of Regents (BOR), several organizations resorted to different public movements to prompt voters to put the interests of different sectors of the university first as these members of the board select the 10th Chancellor of UPLB. Additionally, organizations took the time to answer the question of what makes a “pro-student, pro-people” chancellor.

Among the hopefuls for term 2020-2023 are President of Eclaro Academy and Eclaro Business Solutions Inc Patrick Alain Azanza, the current Dean of UPLB Graduate School (GS) Jose Camacho Jr, and incumbent Chancellor Fernando C Sanchez Jr.

Personally, I have already chosen whom I want as the next Chancellor of my University: Azanza. In my essay, “Who Will Be The Chancellor Of The Brave New World Of UPLB[4]?” this is what I wrote:

Azanza has a PhD in Educational Administration from UP Diliman. His Vision is to “harness the University’s potentials” in development communication, eLearning, information science, and technology.

Azanza's my brave man!

I like what he says about agriculture and education:

As we inevitably welcome the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technology advancements, UPLB has that distinct role in defining the academic boundaries and depths by which such technologies and scientific applications shall fit into the University’s curricular offerings in order to develop knowledge and skills that can be put to meaningful use in the industries,

The UPLB students reported on by Miss PB noted that:

Although centralizing the university vision to a “Silicon Valley UPLB” is a good step to the advancement of the industry, constituents must be cautious with the implication of partnering with private businesses, since commercialization schemes have been a pressing issue for the UP System.

To solve a problem, change the problem. In that case, all UP does not recognize the role of business in science! UP is rejecting a great historical role of bridging science with business!@517

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/08/29/2038518/businesses-urged-gear-digital-economy?fbclid=IwAR3Xu7W-aecO4aOSeJys1Sx40jCe-IGW1NnRN_rEF6-ZOS3gwjdc-iXzm6s
[2]https://uplbperspective.org/2020/08/28/uplb-stakeholders-prefer-pro-student-pro-people-chancellor/?
bclid=IwAR119VjIxbM4A8BMTDhIe0E3k8VcTEcff6JkO1divsXo39lJI-LVA1a_SSA
[3]https://research.curtin.edu.au/projects-expertise/institutes-centres/centre-for-digital-agriculture/
[4]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2020/08/who-will-be-chancellor-of-brave-new.html

UNEP Is For Inclusive Wealth, I Am For Inclusive Development – The Difference Is Gross!

 

In its website, ensiasays it is “a solutions-focused nonprofit media outlet[1].” Coming out with solution or option, yes, ensia, you have my admiration; but you have to start right. Start right where? In defining the problem! (ascending arrow from World Economic Forum[2])

Ensia has come out with an opinion piece by Pushpam Kumar, “Pandemic, Floods, Fires, Hurricanes, Extinctions — Nature Is Telling Us It’s Time To Build Our Economy Around Inclusive Wealth[3].” Mr Kumar is the Chief Environmental Economist of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP – so I take it that the new concept of “inclusive wealth” is more or less acceptable to the United Nations as a good measure of the overall health of a country.

So UNEP is now saying goodbye to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, which Mr Kumar sees is being replaced by Inclusive Wealth:

How did we get here? By basing our decisions on a short-sighted measure of human well-being. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is conventionally used to measure economic growth and well-being, fails to account for the contributions of natural ecosystems. It treats the environment as a luxury good rather than an asset that generates benefits that can be measured in monetary terms… As a result, we don’t give the environment sufficient weight in our decisions – and the consequences of our decisions come back to haunt us in the form of disease, political instability, economic insecurity and more.

Instead, Mr Kumar says:

How can we get to a better place? Through something called “inclusive wealth accounting” – a measure of true well-being, not just for ourselves, but for future generations. Inclusive wealth refers to the sum of social worth of manufactured capital (like building and machines), human capital (like health and skills) and natural capital (like biodiversity and ecosystem services).

Bravo! Looks good, sounds good – but “inclusive wealth” cannot be seen except in an increase in the number of government offices and their reports, and more private palatial homes. You have to look at the record books, inside banks to check.

Instead, I want to see “inclusive development” – I don’t have to ask, “Where is the money?” I can see it in the increasing numbers and amounts of (a) free housing for the poor, (b) free hospitalization for the sick and indigent, (c) grants for freeeducation, (d) more jobs, (e) more social benefits, and (f) higher standards of living.

“Inclusive wealth” is seen only in the record books of government; “inclusive development” is seen everywhere you look! Government crooks cannot hide development if there is any, and how much, or how little. What more evidence do you want?

I first learned about inclusive development from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when William Dar was Director General; he hired me as a writer, work from home, WFH, 2007-2014. Now he is PH Secretary of Agriculture – my WFH conviction on inclusive development has never changed  since ICRISAT 13 years ago.

On to 100 years of Inclusive Development!@517

 

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[1]https://ensia.com
[2]https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-inclusive-growth-and-development-report-2017
[3]https://ensia.com/voices/gdp-inclusive-wealth-unep-sustainability-sdgs/

Filipino Farmers Remain Poor Because PH Economists Don’t Understand!

 

So stark, so devastating: “Why Filipino Small Farmers Remain Poor[1]” – the title of Fermin N Adriano’s Thursday, 27 August 2020’s column at the Manila Times.

Mr Adriano asks:

Why are Filipino small farmers poor? Why do they remain poor despite the fertile lands and abundant supply of fresh water in the Philippines?

He gives 3 reasons:

(1)   Low retention ceiling – must be 17 ha total for a family of 4 children.

(2)   Farmer cooperatives not business-oriented.

(3)   Extension work devolved to the LGUs, which are not prepared to do the work.

Mr Adriano also blames local journalism that comes out in media that he claims are not as reputable as that of the Economist, Washington Post, and Financial Times, “whose pieces are well thought out articles based on solid research and analyses.”

Reading that, I feel Mr Adriano is denigrating us journalists who are not affiliated with any “reputable” media. Well, I’m a UP Los Baños alumnus. A blogger, my journalism, for Mr Adriano’s information, is THINK Journalism: True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind? I started my international journalism in agriculture when Secretary General William Dar of ICRISAT hired me to work from home, WFH; ICRISAT in India, I in the Philippines; 2007-2014 inclusive. ICRISAT collected my essays and published 7 books out of them.

WFH. THINK Journalism. Mr Adriano cannot find any other journalistic act declaring such in the whole world!

“Low retention ceiling” – Mr Adriano is not a farmer; he does not know 17 ha for a family of 4 children are too many! My father cultivated 3 ha, and we all 3 children went our ways and gathered our college degrees.

Mr Adriano says:

A farmer can earn a decent income from 1.5 hectares of land if he is cultivating high value crops like vegetables or cut flowers. However, if he is tilling traditional crops like rice, corn or coconut, there is no way he will earn a decent income from farming. No matter how efficient the farmer is in tending his farm, no matter how much assistance or subsidies the government provides to such a farmer, it will be impossible for him to earn an income adequate to support the needs of a family of five or six members with the land size that he has. It is worth pointing out that most of our farmers are engaged in the cultivation of traditional crops.

Let me challenge Mr Adriano to test me as a farmer. I will grow rice in 1.5 hectares anywhere and show much, much more than “a decent income from farming” – it will be a revelation. I will use no in/organic fertilizer. I will use only a hand tractor to cultivate, with rotavator blades – where lies my secret.

Mr Adriano says, “Farmer cooperatives are not business-oriented.” No, many of them are not.

We have to teach them – those who know their economics have to teach them. Don’t look at me!@517

 

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[1]https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/08/27/business/agribusiness/why-filipino-small-farmers-remain-poor/759852/?fbclid=IwAR3fJFdgWzuwp0slBwVgWKR5bktntZHlx1mdRWHVVVinZfOWVWS8qbPwHNA

PH Coconuts – The Hidden Enemy Is Not The Oil Palm But Extinction!

 

Coconut farming is destroying 20 animal species for every million tons of coconut oil made.

That claim made by Borneo-based Eric Meijaard has been debunked by Filipino coconut scientists (10 August 2020, James A Loyola, “Groups Debunk Environmental Charges Against Coconut Farming[1],” Manila Bulletin). Mr Loyola says:

Philippine coconut industry stakeholders, advocacy groups, and academicians debunked recent international articles singling out coconut oil production as both environmental and biodiversity threats.

Victoria Espaldon, former Dean of University of the Philippines-Los Baños School of Environment Science and Management (UPLB-SESAM), finds the online post “generally a (haphazard) work.” She says, “The article is vague on whether it is the coconut oil production itself or that landscapes are transformed (into those of) coconuts as environmental issues.”

Mr Loyola says American Asa Feinstein, a coconut advocate and CEO of Coco Asenso, debunked the claims primarily sourced from Meijaard, a Dutch conservation scientist. Mr Feinstein explained that “Coconuts are mentioned as a factor that has threatened 66 species, while oil palm has threatened 321 species. If you didn’t catch that, according to the IUCN and contrary to the title of Meijaard’s article, palm oil production has threatened five times more species than coconuts!” Over the past 3 decades, Mr Feinstein says, oil palms have deforested 12 million hectares.

The International Coconut Community (ICC) finds it “intriguing” that the author, Borneo-based Eric Meijaard, chose to headline the threat from coconut oil to shield palm oil, which is under intense attack for its harmful environmental effects. “Apparently, Mr Meijaard considers this as a zero-sum competition between coconut oil and palm oil, when there should be none,” said (the) ICC.

Miss Victoria says, “The transformation of Philippine landscapes to coconut began hundreds of years ago. At the moment, (areas are) not expanding; rather, coconut areas are receding and being transformed into other land uses or mixed uses (agroforestry).”

So where is the biodiversity threat?

In fact, Miss Victoria says, “Coconut-based diversified farms are turning into habitats for wildlife, particularly for birds and insects.”

Professor Emeritus Toby Dayrit points out: “No rain forests have been burned in the past 200 years to plant coconuts.” In fact, “coconuts actually promote biodiversity in barren islands and seashores where no other plants grow.”

And coconut is being used to manufacture virgin coconut oil, health supplements, beauty products, biodiesel and aesthetic décor[2] (UCAP, 10 August 2020, malaya.com.ph).

Actually, there is a hidden threat to coconuts that does not come from competing with oil palms:

The coconuts themselves!

UCAP said that the main problem facing the local industry is actually the near extinction of coconut trees, most of which were planted during the Spanish colonial times two hundred years ago.

The PH government, UCAP said, “should expedite its initiative to help the industry,” with old-gold, new or improved varieties. I know the Philippine Coconut Authority has those varieties, but not enough budget for a national replanting.

The coconut contributes $2 billion in export receipts yearly and provides livelihood to 3.5 million farmers.

PH, save our coconut farmers!@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/10/groups-debunk-environmental-charges-against-coconut-farming/?fbclid=IwAR2MzS9VfIccwYZqfB0oeHp55p_45ZkxnLoWxJvgzLAu_1zLWbZd6b0DZFk

[2]https://malaya.com.ph/index.php/news_business/coconut-industry-not-a-biodiversity-threat/

Are UPLB Students Ready For Online Learning? No, UPLB Teachers Are Not Ready For Online Teaching!

Here is the UPLB Institute of Statistics Research announcement, Facebook 2020:

August 14

𝗜𝗙 𝗜𝗧’𝗦 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬, 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬?

How ready are UPLB students for online learning? What learning devices do they have? Are they familiar with various learning management systems? These are the questions we always ask recently. Let this research speak.

The results will help the UPLB community face the battlefield in the first semester. Faculty members need to know the situation of the learners for them to create the most suitable course packs. The administration needs to work to strengthen the shaky foundation. Read on and decide for yourself.

This study reveals the facts, the way to go is up to us.

(This Editor says there are 2 grammatical errors up there; the sentences should read thus:
“These are the questions we asked recently.”
“Let the research results speak.”)

The problem no one is asking is this:

“Where are the Teachers at the University of the Philippines Los Baños?”

You think you know? You are wrong!

This is a UP Los Baños Teacherspeaking. I graduated with a BSA major in Agricultural Education in 1965 – I passed the very first Teacher’s  Exam, given in 1964 (yes, the year before graduation), with a grade of 80.6%, Civil Service Professional Level. No review classes, no review books.

So, I have been a Teacher for almost 60 years, and I have been in and around UP Los Baños since then – and I can tell you:

There are no more Teachers at UPLB!
There are only Instructors & Lecturers!

Teachers study to teach; Instructors & Lecturers memorize their subject, that’s all. I Teacher taught myself digital skills; those Instructors & Lecturers cannot teach themselves teaching with their skills!

The above Institute of Statistics Research survey is all-wrong – it begins on the wrong foot! It should not be a survey of the learning readiness of students but of the teaching readiness of the teachers! And that would have required an honest-to-goodness teacher as adviser for the research study.

Everyday, a teacher would have a lesson and a lesson plan – whether written or not. For instance, if the lesson were on the un/desirability of collecting & preserving insects for the Entom 1 class, today the teacher’s online presentation would be awesome because it can telescope time and show everyone what happens if they continued collecting insects for class submission.

No Sir, it has nothingto do with “Optimizing online learning platforms” – it has everything to do with optimizing online learning, period.

No Sir, the priority is notfor students to “Learn tips and best strategies for online learning” – the priority is for the teacher to learntips and best strategies for online teaching.

And no Sir, the priority is not for “Effective online presentation skills for students” but “Effective online presentation skills for the teachers!”

Please do not reverse the rules:
If there is no teaching, there is no learning!

This is a Professional Teacher speaking.@517

The Indians’ Digital Media & Communication For Sustainable Development

From January 2007, after 13 years of blogging for Asian & PH Agriculture, today I am at the stage of my journalistic career where I am looking elsewhere for other advocacies and expressions of sustainable development. That is how I found on the Internet the book Media & Communication in Sustainable Development published by the Society for Education & Research Development, SERD, in Haryana, India (above image from the cover). It is a thick book, more than 400 pages, and there are more than 40 authors, an average of 10 pages each. I am not surprised, because “communication for sustainable development” is a new and hot topic. And next to the Philippines, India claims mastery of a second language, English, except that their variant is British and PH is American.

The book is edited by Vikas Kumar & Pawan Gupta. Mr Kumar has a PhD from Kurukshetra University in Haryana, India, and authored 2 books. Mr Gupta is Director of the Army Institute of Management & Technology in Greater Noida.

I am a Filipino residing in Manila, but I love their book because it tackles 3 subjects very, very close to my heart: media, communication and sustainable development.

I have been studying the book for 3 days, and I am sorry to say it fails itself. Well, it succeeds 50% – there is the media-communication part; in fact, the book is all communication. But it fails 50% – the sustainable development part. No author and no Editor ever mentions, which means they all assumed, that everybody knew and everybody agreed on what they were thinking as sustainable development. A dangerous professorial absent-mindedness! (They even forgot the year of publication – I can’t see it. I must say the Editors and the Publisher are not digital masters.)

The definition or description or delineation of what is “sustainable development” should be right in the Editor’s Introduction for the readers to appreciate the book.

If you ask me what I consider sustainable development, I will say that it must be technically feasible and economically viable and environmentally sound and socially acceptable.

Technically feasible– As planned and claimed, the technology or system, T/S, works. This is operations. Economically viable – Proven in repeated uses by farmers, say, the T/S is economical in resources and therefore worthy of being adopted. Environmentally sound – The T/S does not waste environmental resources, or only very little of it. Socially acceptable – The users are the final arbiter of a T/S – do they accept it?

In the Preface, the book says:

Sustainable development is a Global will to improve everyone’s quality of life, including that of future generations, by reconciling economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

It is the quality of life that is all-important.

However, definition of quality of life is very much subjective in nature and varies from one continent to another, from one region to another, one country to the next and most importantly one community to another.

That is exactly why you have a 4^th requirement for sustainable development: socially acceptable!@517

Tablets Or Learning Schools? Yours Is Old School, And It Has To Go!

 

Shared on Facebook in the above images, Pinas Forward PH makes a plea to celebrate “National Indigenous Peoples Day” on 21 June – late, but I just saw it today – and urge Filipinos to support and help these people especially in these pandemic times.I am a teacher; I am also digital, if self-taught; and that is why I took notice. One child is making an issue of a PC tablet for herself while the other child is dreaming only of a school for her tribe! Both are legitimate dreams.

In these times, I am not interested in a 4-walled room you can call a classroom, only a free WiFi space where at least 20 different youths can study using digital tools like laptops, tablets, and/or notebooks. Granting that they have a proper curriculum where the wonders of the digital world are maximized, at least optimized.

Note: “Where the wonders of the digital world are maximized, at least optimized.” Graduated as a high school teacher from the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1965, I taught myself my digital skills in dealing with texts and images, especially in blogging. I was already 45 years old when I began to learn digital – word processing, WordStar 1– age is not a reason for not being able to learn.

Today, I’m interested in teaching the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, MI, by Harvard professor Howard Gardner; there are 9 MI in his list:

Bodily kinesthetic intelligence – “body smart”

Existential intelligence – “world smart”

Interpersonal intelligence – “people smart”

Intrapersonal intelligence – “self-smart”

Linguistic intelligence – “word smart”

Logical-mathematical intelligence – “number/reasoning smart”

Musical intelligence – “music smart”

Naturalist intelligence – “nature smart”

Spatial intelligence – “picture smart”

In the lower grades and in high school, Lumad learners or not, we should now change the way we teach so that we teach the learner how to be intelligent in his/her innate smartness.

If you are body smart, there is an athlete waiting to be trained and developed; you may also be a dancer, mechanic, surgeon.

If you are world smart, you will thrive in philosophy.

If you are people smart, you will make a good leader. Or a sales person.

If you are self-smart, you may become a counselor or psychologist.

If you are word-smart, you may make a good teacher, speaker, author.

If you are number smart, you may make a good planner, accountant, statistician, computer analyst.

If you are music smart, you may make a good composer or singer.

If you are nature smart, you may prove to be a botanist, biologist, or a good philosopher that the world needs.

If you are picture smart, you may become an excellent pilot, surgeon, graphic artist. Interior decorator.

In these digital times, it is no longer degrees that employers demand from applicants but prowess with computer applications, such as for writing, editing, layouting, and desktop publishing. At 80, I am a digital WFH.

So, how do you teach multiple intelligences? Go digital! Classrooms confine; the digital world liberates!@517

When It Comes To Agriculture, Batac City Is Bold And Careful

Boldly, “Batac City Earmarks P100-M For Agri Development[1]” (Reynaldo Andres, 20 August 2020, PNA). That is only for the rest of the year 2020. Priority areas are rice, corn and other high-value crops.

I have yet to read another PH City doing that for her farmers. “Mayor Albert Chua said the city government is optimistic that the amount will help subsidize production cost of local farmers.” Batac must love her farmers that much. Actually, it is also a show of support to PhilRice in its obligation to increase rice production this pandemic times.

Mayor Chua says, aside from providing mechanized water pumps, Batac is at the same time supporting the zanjeras. The zanjeras, from the Spanish word zanja, meaning ditch or canal, are communal irrigation systems[2] (Carlos D Isles, “The ‘Zanjeras’ Of Ilocos Norte,” 04 November 2015, Inquirer.net). Mr Isles says of them:

The zanjeras… are a rich source of lessons in social organization, equitable water distribution, voluntarism, and strict implementation of rules and regulations.

We don’t have something like zanjeras in my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan, so to each his own water watch day and/or night. We Ilocanos in Pangasinan have to learn from the Ilocanos in Ilocos Norte.

Batac is lucky because it is “currently enjoying the support of MMSU and PhilRice to meet the city’s production target(s) not only in rice but also on corn, tobacco, and garlic.”

The occasion was actually the launching of “3^rdRice Paddy Art” held at the campus of Mariano Marcos State University, MMSU, on Tuesday, 18 August 2020. I might say I am a fan of paddy art, but this is the first time I read that it happened in MMSU – the original paddy art was exhibited in the ricefields of PhilRice 4 years ago, when PhilRice featured President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo in a paddy art[3] (superimposed image) using different varieties of rice “to define the facial features” of the two highest PH officials (superimposed image, The Bohol Chronicle).

So, the City of Batac is actually cultivating 2 different things: rice and paddy art. Rice is to feed the body; paddy art is to feed the eyes. We all need cereal and beauty.

Mayor Chua says that in rice alone, Batac is targeting to spend P40 million for this second cropping season. By November, 700 units of mechanized water pumps will be unloaded to rice-producing barangays. Batac will also unload P30 million worth of postharvest facilities by that time.

He also notes that Ilocos Norte’s arable areas “are fast depleting,” and that is why he is “hoping the road networks in the barangays will be completed to give way to the development of sloping areas for food production.” Farm-to-market roads.

Now then. Sloping areas are irrigated only by rain – or water pump. The Batac farmers may have to additionally learn Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, SALT, a system pioneered by Baptist missionary Harold Watson in Davao del Sur in the 1970s[4]. SALT will further sweeten agriculture in Batac!@517

 

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1112860?fbclid=IwAR32QsTbIdD7vj-yyRf-FMCnWIuj6U-6OOK-YF7t9fL67RqFJLiNpyvEIqs
[2]https://opinion.inquirer.net/90020/the-zanjeras-of-ilocos-norte
[3]https://www.boholchronicle.com.ph/2016/09/24/look-philrice-features-duterte-robredo-in-rice-art/
[4]http://www.agrowingculture.org/a-review-of-sloped-agricultural-land-technology-salt/

We Have To Push The Cooperative Development Authority First, To Push PH Farm Consolidation!

Should we go ahead with farm consolidation as Secretary of Agriculture William Dar wants? This policy of the Department of Agriculture, DA, appears to be in contradiction with the dictates of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, CARP, of the Department of Agrarian Reform, DAR. Nonetheless, expert Fermin D Adriano declares that CARP has been inutile, saying “Agrarian Reform Has Failed The Small Farmers” (20 August 2020, Manila Times):

Poverty incidence in the rural areas remains high at around 40 percent, twice higher than the average national poverty incidence. This means that despite distributing more than 5 million hectares of around 10 million hectares of cultivable lands in the country, agrarian reform failed to make a real dent on poverty and (promote) greater equality.

Quote: “Twice higher than the average national poverty incidence.” Agrarian reform in the Philippines has utterly failed!

So, “Agriculture Secretary William Dar has made farm consolidation or clustering a vital component of his industrialization and modernization agenda for Philippine agriculture.” Mr Dar clarifies that “farm consolidation does not mean consolidation of land ownership but only of production, processing, and marketing activities.” This should result in economies of scale and higher and more sustainable returns for everyone. (consolidation image from DA CAR[1])

Mr Adriano says, “The obvious vehicles for farm consolidation are the farmers’ cooperatives or associations.” Sir, they are not the same. I believe in farmer cooperatives, FCs, but not in farmer associations, FAs. I have seen how the FAs are dictated upon by their Presidents; in my province Pangasinan, one FA President keeps all the equipment in his residence! And yes, the FAs are “organized to access the unending stream of subsidies from government.”

With the FAs, government is cultivating the mendicant attitude of our farmers!

So, what do we do? Mr Adriano says, “The task is to impart an agribusiness perspective to these (groups).” I agree. I see that the initial problem is we have to teach the Cooperative Development Authority, CDA, which oversees cooperatives, to promote business-oriented thinking among the CDA leaders first, so that they can promote the same among the cooperatives.

That’s a tall order!

Mr Adriano says:

Indeed, the problems of agriculture are complex and interrelated. Undeniably, they cannot be solved solely by the Department of Agriculture. The agency has to collaborate with other government departments such as Trade and Industry (processing and marketing), Public Works and Highways (roads and bridges) and Transportation (transport/logistics), and CDA (cooperatives), among others, to uplift the welfare of small farmers. This is a huge challenge that many fail to understand, much less appreciate.

Not to forget science, he says:

Science will be needed to systematically examine the problems involved per stage of the agricultural process (i.e., input and production, processing, transport and marketing) and offer realistic solutions to each of them. Only then can the agricultural sector progress.

Yes to all that. But we must begin right – with the CDA learning agribusiness and imparting the same to the FCs.

Then poor farmers can march to prosperity!@517

 

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[1]http://car.da.gov.ph/gawad-saka-guidelines/

Old Golds. Thanks For The Memories!

I see Bruce Tolentino’s “Alphabet Of The Obsolete” Facebook sharing as 26 intellectual reminders more than visual or archetypal, historical.

The list brings me back to 1975-1981:

1. Antenna.
2. Book, bookstore.
3. Cursive writing.
4. Dictionary.
5. Encyclopedia.
6. Film.
7. Grammar.
8. Hotel key.
9. Ink.
10. Jar Jar.
11. Knobs.
12. Landline.
13. Map.
14. Newspaper.
15. Optical disk.
16. Privacy.
17. Quality.
18. Rolodex.
19. Stereo.
20. Typewriter.
21. Underage.
22. VHS.
23. Watch.
24. Xerox.
25. Yellow paper.
26. Zip code.

My wife Ampy and I got married on 18 March 1967, the birthday of her father Gabriel – but we told no one. We have since then 13 children, the youngest in 1990. Jump to 2020: I am The BlogFather, the one with thousands of essays in the Internet. I have always been prolific!

From 1975 to 1981, I was Chief Information Officer of the Forest Research Institute, FORI; founded and was Editor In Chief of its 3 major publications: the monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular color magazine Habitat, which I patterned after the US National Geographic. I was a happy copycat.

In those years, we used books at the library, dictionary, encyclopedia, lots of films, letters, newspapers, typewriter, yellow paper.   

Ampy was Secretary to the Director of the Forest Products Research & Industries Development Commission, FORPRIDECOM. FORI and FORPRIDECOM were neighbors literally. FORI for forest production, FORPRIDECOM for forest products. Marriage made in heaven.

At home, the TV antenna has long gone. We are not thinking of a new TV set because we have the Internet (PLDT HomeFibr) and we have a laptop and a netbook to tap the endless digital wealth that it offers.

And we don’t go to the bookstore to buy books anymore.

Cursive writing is still with me – I keep about a dozen notes-book (and Uni pens) around the house for my random thoughts. Very useful. I don’t rely on memory.

Dictionary, yes, I use the American Heritage Dictionary all the time, the book copy at home but mostly the Internet.

Encyclopedia, I use Wikipediaand Britannica online. A writer cannot remember everything; also, there are great quotes to be had if you just look around.

Films gone. I now have a Lumix FZ100 digital camera with superzoom. I simply set to iA, intelligent Auto, and I simply shoot, shoot, shoot anytime.

Grammar, I still have to reread my essays many times over to catch any hidden error.

Newspaper, we have stopped buying. When you browse Facebook, you read all kinds of news – and non-news. It’s up for you to discern!

Quality is what you make it. I always revise my essays at least 7 times to raise the level of quality from Good to Best. If you don’t have patience, you cannot have quality.

My watch now is my cellphone, which gives me also the day and time.

Essentially, I have bid goodbye to the yellow paper and the zip code.

Almost 80, am I obsolete? I have never been so creative, thank God! @517

Engendering Sustainability Of Communities. Or Endangering It

If you are not constructing sustainable communities, what are you constructing?!

Continuing my journalism for inclusive developmentof my country the Philippines, I must continue to pursue sustainability.

Above: Environmental. Socio-cultural. Technological. Economic. Public Policy. According to the American think tank Joslyn Institute, these 5 domains must all be employed in concert building or rebuilding Sustainable Communities.  

Joslyn says, “Many business and governmental leaders have been skeptical about placing any domain on a par with Economics.” And I say that if you don’t, Economics will gobble up any energies or efforts at sustainable development – and that is the meaning of Gross Domestic Product, GDP – where if you have a high GDP value, you have high development – but not necessarily sustainable development.

In November last year, Agriculture Monthly republished my article “Appreciating Sustainable Development[1]” earlier published last March. I wrote:

So, when you read the term sustainable developmentanywhere, whether it is applied to science or technology, applied in economics or education, unless the author is using the term in a very limited context (which happens, and which is wrong), whether it is the Philippine government or the United Nations using the term, it must mean not just one or any combination but all of the following, that whatever is being considered is:

(1) Economically viable, and (2) Environmentally sound, and (3) Socially acceptable.

Whatever happened to “public policy”? It must be socially acceptable. Same with “socio-cultural.” What about “technological”? It must be economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable!

No technology, no matter how advanced, can lead to sustainable development of a region, for instance, if it is merely (1) technically feasible, or merely (2) environmentally sound, or merely (3) socially acceptable; it must be a combination of the three components.

Joslyn insists on its 5 domains of sustainability. It justifies those by saying:

These questions are relevant to every community on the globe… small, large, mega, or intermediate in size. We are leaving the era when the international argument has been over poverty, or rich versus poor. This language is from the industrial revolution, “economics above-all-else” thinking, which symbolizes only one measure among the five domains. The “rich” may have significant economic wealth, but may be poor in environmental resources, or socio-cultural attributes; the “poor” may have less economic stature, but may be wealthy in cultural history and basic quality of life.

Joslyn is wrong in saying “We are leaving the era when the international argument has been… rich versus poor.” The whole world is still rich versus poor. That is because the rich do not really want sustainable development except if it is in their favor!

Joslyn says, “The ‘rich’ may have significant economic wealth, but may be poor in environmental resources” – that is justifying the unjustifiable. We are all in this together!

Joslyn says, “The ‘poor’ may have less economic stature, but may be wealthy in cultural history and basic quality of life.” How can the poor be wealthy of the basic quality of life?! That is a contradiction.

Joslyn, about sustainable arguments, try again!@517

 

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[1]https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/11/08/appreciating-sustainable-development/

Digital Rethinking Teaching 2020 – What About Our Schools, Colleges & Universities Under CHEd?

Teaching 2020, we should be modern explorers of the low seas of indigenous knowledge and high seas of modern science!

When I think of PH Schools, Colleges & Universities, SCUs, which are under the Commission on Higher Education, CHEd, I think of their contributions to Agriculture, which must not only survive this pandemic lockdown but thrive. And yes, it may be that the Hope of the Farmerland lies with the youths coming out as products of SCUs, college graduates and/or youth entrepreneurs. All the more reason that teaching at the SCUs must be restructured with the powers of the digital universe.

The above image titled “Rethinking Teaching 2020” is by Torrey Trust shared by Ivan Marcelo A Duka on Facebook, but without a website to trace to. Thanks anyway, Ivan. I find that Miss Torrey is an Associate Professor of Learning Technology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst[1] (torreytrust.com). Nice thinking, lady!

I put in the image of a “Friendly WiFi[2]” because that’s what a WiFi should be: user-friendly. Actually, it means you have to make friends with it, be acquainted more with it, explore it some more. The lessons you learn as a teacher will be your own – and then those of your students.

Some 25 years ago, within the campus of UP Los Baños, we were one of the first families who recognized the informative & intellectual values of the Internet, as I am an instructor as well as a creative writer. The UP College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, taught me my BSA major in Ag Edu; I taught myself creative writing via the pocketbooks How To Write, Speak And Think More Effectively by Austrian-American readability expert Rudolf Flesch (about 1965), and wonderful creative thinking with Mechanism Of Mind by Maltese doctor & psychologist Edward de Bono (about 1975). With books like those, you get ideas how to generate more ideas; with the WiFi, you get the universe!

How did I learn to use our WiFi? The hard way. You have to learn to conduct searches using double quotes, for instance. But there is no other way!

If you’re afraid of using the Internet for teaching, just look at the list of Miss Torrey and try one:

“Instead of Long Lectures – Mini-Lessons with Active Learning.” You the would-be lecturer have to study your material first so that you can extract many mini-lessons. And you will enjoy it too!

“Instead of Feedback – Feedforward.” Instead of feedback – recitation, test, report – why not ask the class their individual opinions? Will make for exciting sessions – just watch out against negatives.

“Instead of high-stakes tests – Low-stakes.” Little surprise quizzes that encourage everyone to pay attention.

“Instead of one-size-fits-all.” Make learning fun, including yours! That’s what the Internet is for.

And don’t think of it as school – just another playground of the mind, yours and your students.

Instead of Control(critical thinking), better Explore(creative thinking). And you know what? When you encourage your students to explore, you and they will learn more!@517

 

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[1]https://torreytrust.com 
[2]https://www.friendlywifi.com/public-wifi

Introducing The Brave New WiFi-World, BNW2. Is The Internet The New Medium For Learning? Yes, When Using Your Head!

Today, I must say PH Vice President Leni Robredo has inspired me in the way she has been playing her officially diminished VP role with style and substance anyway. (Oh yes, I voted for her as VP in 2016.) Here she is in effect lecturing Secretary of Education Leonor Briones on how to be a good Secretary considering that the coronavirus pandemic lockdown has revised the terms of educating the Filipino youth – while Miss Leonor has not put together the pieces to complete the puzzle. With her meaning-well thoughts expressed, Miss Leni must have advisers with good minds thinking about teaching! Good teachers are hard to find.

Of Miss Leni, Bonz Magsambol says, “Ahead Of School Opening, Robredo Proposes Solutions To Readiness Issues, Teachers' Concerns[1]” (13 August 2020, Rappler.com); Miss Leni is a lawyer by profession, so she is careful with her words:

We are, ultimately, united in the goal of ensuring the continuity of learning and the welfare of our educators. We submit these insights and recommendations in the spirit of solidarity so that we may all, as one nation, build the better normal that our people deserve.

I note that: “Build the better normal.”

Miss Leni recommends:

Internet setups – “Setting up Internet hubs in schools and communities where they are needed.”

Teacher issues – “Effective communication would help solve issues such as concerns of teachers in terms of getting copies of the self-learning modules.”

Framework for communication – "A clear framework communicating why these programs are needed, and how to implement them."

Local governments – "Schools with proactive local governments can cope better.” Which means, the DepEd should also educate the LGUs.

Teachers’ health – In case of teachers getting infected with the coronavirus, Miss Leonor says, “No budget for treatment of teachers with coronavirus.” I say, what is she doing with the DepEd except not looking into the possibilities of accommodating those positive teachers?!

Miss Leni is talking much sense where Miss Leonor is not.

In any case, Brave New World is thinking beyond the mechanics and into the mechanisms of something like a new education paradigm for PH education –

Introducing: The Brave New (WiFi) World! The BNW².
(digital WiFi image from friendlywifi.com[2])

While the DepEd may continue with whatever resources it can gather between now and start of classes, I am thinking ahead and fleshing out my new brainchild, BNW². The simple and yet not-so-simple way to execute BNW² is to adopt/adapt Harvard professor Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, MI, with its 9 smarts:

body smart, world smart, people smart, self-smart, word smart, number/reasoning smart, music smart, nature smart, picture smart.

With WiFi running day and night. Thus, MI can easily fit in any classroom lesson or situation anywhere – learners understanding a lesson using one’s own intelligence. Walang bobo sa MI – there are no dull students with MI.

WiFi also means Wild Figurings, deliberately done to stimulate the mind to consider other possibilities.

BNW². That would be the greatest day of learning ever!@517

 

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[1]https://rappler.com/nation/robredo-pens-proposal-address-readiness-issues-teachers-concerns?fbclid=IwAR2NsL9AUN2pWTFcePN9-waipX0NZW2_GUaXWwby1CMJ42-0GS4vJ7v7iec

[2]https://www.friendlywifi.com