SRO Is Legendary Winner Over Rice. Next Challenge – Rice-Based Farming Systems!

PhilRice is SRO, and SRO is PhilRice – The Legacy Award is well-deserved and more.

Santiago Rigonan Obien, SRO, made history with the Philippine Rice Research Institute, PhilRice. The award was given on 27 November 2020 as part of the “2019 Rice Achievers Awards” ceremonies held at the headquarters of the Bureau of Soils & Water Management in Diliman, Quezon City.

Historically, Executive Order 1061 signed by President Ferdinand E Marcos on 05 November 1985 created the Philippine Rice Research Institute, PhilRice[1]; President Corazon Aquino affirmed the creation on 07 November 1985; and in June 1987, Santiago R Obien was appointed PhilRice Director (Wikipedia.org),

PhilRice was born only once, that’s for sure – but as Executive Director, SRO saw PhilRice was born with a double challenge:

(1)   Be the national agency worthy of the national staple food of Filipinos.

(2)   Be recognized world-class.

Before PhilRice, SRO had been FAO consultant not for nothing.

Now then, an Ilocano farmer and with a doctorate degree in agriculture from the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, SRO went to work twice as a Builder:

1^st, Builder of Men –
As PhilRice Executive Director, SRO selected his PhilRice people and diligently encouraged them to improve themselves further by sending them to graduate school – to gain more knowledge and to gain more confidence in themselves. He was building them as middle managers of PhilRice. History tells us SRO succeeded here. Those SRO recruits fulfilled their promise and became leaders of the different units, or leader scientists, of PhilRice.

2^nd, Builder of PhilRice –
At the start, the headquarters of PhilRice at the village of Maligaya in the City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija was the usual government building of a rice research experiment station – the building was inherited from the Bureau of Plant Industry. Not good enough for his dreams of umpire – he wanted to elevate the game of local rice research into one of international reputation. So, he campaigned for and was awarded funds by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.

SRO as builder of individuals and PhilRice succeeded mightily – when he retired in 2000 on his birthday 25 July, PhilRice was at the top; it had become recognized as world class and was even more popular than the International Rice Research Institute, IRRI!

Above, the Legacy Award errs in saying SRO was Executive Director of PhilRice starting 1968; the correct year is 1987. I also want to correct the imbalance of focusing too much on rice:

We Filipinos cannot live on rice alone!
PhilRice’s Palayamanan – literally, rice-based riches,
we must make national!

SRO is now 85 years old; he continues to work assiduously for his country. As a Senior Consultant to Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, SRO can be the Godfather of OpAPA – Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture – and I look at it as digital, where this 80-year old can help zealously.

Mr Dar himself is the Father of OpAPA;
now, fast, digital OpAPA
must promote riches-based farming systems
providing wealth & welfare to Filipino farming families!@517

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Rice_Research_Institute

In PH Agriculture, How Many Single Success Stories – That’s What Some People Count. How Many Group Success Stories – That’s What Counts, People!

 

“Teaching kids to count is fine, 
but teaching them what counts is best.” 
Bob Talbert, “Generation Mindful 
genmindful.com

On Facebook, I am almost always reading about agriculture and Single Success Stories, SSS – they make their writers and their subjects happy, and I can’t take that away from them. Those journalists who come up with SSS stories are teaching people to count one by one by one.

Instead of SSS, me, I prefer to count group by group, Group Success inspiring Stories, GSiS – and as I see it, this is what the PH Department of Agriculture, DA, is concentrating on, headed by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, following his own “New Thinking for Agriculture.”

Let’s count. So far, in PH Agriculture, there are how many SSS stories already told? Say 500 since 10 years ago. Let us grant that they have inspired another 500 people, to make 1,000 SSS stories worth telling. Success means each became rich, or richer.

That’s nothing if you consider the successes of collaborative, combined efforts of groups. Pardon me, but the successes I count the most are those of farmer associations, farmer alliances, farmer cooperatives.

As with the Three Musketeers:
All For One, One For All!

And so I note with gladness that the DA has a new multi-million program as according to a press release 25 September 2020 – “DA Rolls Out P250-Million Agribusiness Grant For Farmer Coops[1]” (DA.gov.ph). When you feature SSS, you are cultivating individualism – differently, the DA under Mr Dar is cultivating collectivism, that is, clustering of efforts:

The program, “Enhanced Kadiwa Financial Grant” aims to provide cooperatives additional capital to purchase supplies and equipment and help them sell their produce directly to consumers. The grant includes vegetable crates, packing equipment, delivery truck, and revolving fund as assemblers or consolidators of fresh produce.

Never in the history of PH Agriculture has a government program been like this, distributing to groups to purchase supplies and equipment to consolidate fresh produce and deliver directly to consumers. The producers win, the consumers too!

An estimated 4,450 agri-fishery cooperatives are beneficiaries. So? So not only hundreds but thousands of people will succeed!

Another group focus is for “DA To Support Clustered Backyard Poultry, Livestock Farms[2]” (28 October 2020,  DA.gov.ph). The initial budget for this is P337 million and is part of the DA’s National Livestock Program. To qualify for the grants, would-be recipients are required to group themselves into clusters with at least 15 members, if not members already of a cooperative, association, or people’s organization. The animals distributed include goats, sheep, ducks, swine, cattle and carabaos. I learn that the project beneficiaries per module may receive the following: 100 chicks for broiler production, 40 hens for egg production, 40 ducks for balut, piglets and cattle.
(animals image[3] from Webstockreview.net)

Now then, thousands of farmers can achieve GSiS success because there is so much support from the DA!

I call that spoiling the farmers, but it’s DA-Okay!@518

 

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-rolls-out-p250-million-agribusiness-grant-for-farmer-coops/?fbclid=IwAR31LbTZuvRddEBfT84Mry_w9IDtcgBUHjWfhGPer5Y2YSM-zEF6NlwDUl0

[2]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-to-support-clustered-backyard-poultry-livestock-farms/?fbclid=IwAR3AIgwTCFFgkb7uJUYLg_Toj5i28LasNhdtMJdPwdR1AUei6u6XrEGXPoU

[3]https://webstockreview.net/explore/farmers-clipart-farmyard-animal/

For UP Los Baños To Be Really Pro-Farmer, Here’s How It Can Do Extension

The functions of the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture, UPCA, now UP Los Baños, have always been 3: Instruction, Research, Extension.

Pertinently, my photograph taken at UP Los Baños campus on Valentine’s Day 2019 – note the arms extended. The Oblation is saying, “With Love, Everything I have is Yours!”

Today, Friday, 27 November 2020, I google for “UPLB Development Extension” and I get the webpage https://ovcre.uplb.edu.ph, “Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Development, Extension.” Now, that webpage says Dr Merdelyn C Lit is “Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension!” Where’s “Development?”

Under Extension, the website says, “Training Programs, Analytical & Research Services, and Human Resources.” The Training Programs total 23 – it means you have to attend a training in order for UPLB to be able to say it did Extension on you.

But Training is only half of Extension – where is the other half?

Extension has to be in the field. The farmer has questions he wants answers for, or needs choices.

Look at the Oblation image again, the extended hands – to me, that is a gesture saying, “Ask me for anything and I am ready to give you!” Extension is helping someone solve a problem or resolve an issue right where that someone is. For the farmer, the extension must be in his farm.

And how can UPLB conduct Extension without hiring field technicians or extension workers? Easy. The answer is digital. Ultimately the magic of the cellphone!

PH Department of Agriculture, DA, is doing everything in the matter of pushing Agriculture to the appropriate level of socially shared productivity and profitability – but only half of Extension. So why not DA and UPLB in a common full extension program?

My proposal: Extension by Cellphone Agriculture!

First, create a Knowledge Bank on Agriculture: data & information on crops and livestock, technologies, systems etc detailed for considerations, uploaded so that they can be downloaded data by data if necessary, or as packages of information as well as options for decision by the user.

The system proposed in 2003 by now-PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar when he was Director General of ICRISAT, called Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA, is the knowledge bank I’m thinking of. For OpAPA, that year I prepared a digital roadmap called Geography of Knowledge, Go Know, to prepare the treasures of OpAPA, ultimately withdrawable via  cellphone. (PM me for my email address if you want a free pdf copy of Go Know.) Once OpAPA is programmed, any farmer can ask any question via his cellphone and he will get instant reply! That’s Extension.

It should not be complicated; agriculture should be simplified for the farmer. Suppose he wants to know about Hybrid Rice? With Cellphone Agriculture, just typing the words “hybrid rice” (no quotes) and he will get answers for any number of subsequent questions he can ask via his beloved cellphone. How beautiful is that?

Now, with DA funding, UPLB can do 100% OpAPA to help farmers digitally. Done right, Cellphone Agriculture is Intelligent Extension!@517

“Researchers 2020“ The World Applauds – “Farmers 2020“ The Researchers Ignore!

“Science with a human face” is the best 5-word guide I have ever encountered to national, inclusive development. You know what? The above news is all science, no human face!

“Science with a human face” means “Science serving the people.” If you did not know, that rallying cry was coined about 20 years ago by ICRISAT, based in India, when now-PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar was Director General. What good is your science if it’s all paper, no people?

Clarivate “Web of Science” has all the right to proclaim to the world about its list of “Highly Cited Researchers 2020” – these are the authors of technical papers who have been cited most often in scientific journals anywhere in the world:

Papers published enrich science –
they do not enrich the farmers.
And why not?
Farmers don’t plant, cultivate, harvest, dry & sell papers!

As a creative writer in agriculture & agroforestry in the last 45 years, beginning when I became the Chief Information Officer (not the title) of the Forest Research Institute in April 1975, scientists have been growing the sciences of Agriculture and Forestry in their field labs, but scientists have been ignoring the lives of lowland farmers and hillside farmers!

Science has improved science – but the lives of the poor farmers have remained unimproved.

I know that the prolific scientist authors deserve their due as “Highly Cited Researchers 2020” and that they are “Applauded by the world” – I also know that the farmers do not deserve being ignored by highly cited researchers!

If you look at the above composite image again, you will note the littler image I snapped on: “1. Poor productivity growth in agriculture.” (image[1]” from SlideShare.net). “Poor productivity growth” here means not only relatively high costs that give high yields but also definitely low returns to millions of farmers.

At this point in time, it is not the lack of science that is the problem in agriculture – it is the lack of scientific knowledge & poor science management reaching or guiding the farmers that have prevented them from enriching their lives with the sweat of their own brows!

I am an alumnus of UP Los Baños, and I have been Editor In Chief for several publications in agriculture and forestry in the last 45 years, so I know that when it comes to technical papers published by researchers and cited.by other researchers – those papers are good for promoting researchers, not promoting farmers!

Subsequently, I look at the published scientists in agriculture as the Lazy Juans – they are industrious in bringing new or improved knowledge to publications, but not to the farmers who need it the most!

And you know what? It is the UP System itself that promotes scientists and ignores farmers. UP promotes in rank and salary those who publish more in any of those Web of Science’s list of publications, but UP does not promote those scientists who work directly with the farmers. Activists in UP will go to the streets but not the farms.

Wisen up, UP!@517

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[1]https://pt.slideshare.net/KarlLouisseObispo/the-profile-of-the-filipino-farmer/2?smtNoRedir=1

DepEd Illustration Of Farmer Family – No Class, No Basis, No Thanks!

Class, for today, we have 2 lessons. 
1^st Lesson – Check your facts. 
2^nd Lesson – Check your figures.

If to you the right panel in the main image above is a good portrayal of a Filipino farming family, this teacher who happens to be the son of a farmer, is telling you that you have notbeen taught correctly!

I declare: Not even the poorest Filipino family head & members dress in holey clothes!

That illustration is an offence both to the farmers on one hand and the government on the other. And there is the hidden, if unintended, message: If you want to be poor, be a farmer!

Above, with her half-body inset, GMA creative writer Suzette Doctolero defends the DepEd illustration in a Grade 3 virtual learning module (Jan Milo Severo, 19 November 2020, “No Discrimination? 'Encantadia' Creator Agrees With Farmer's Look In DepEd Module[1],” PhilStar.com). “Encantadia” is a TV fantasy series on enchanted people in 4 kingdoms shown over the years in Channel 7 (GMA), which proves that Miss Suzette has an independent mind.

Now, let us look at what Miss Suzette with her liberated mind has written in defending that poor DepEd farmer illustration! This is another liberated mind speaking. This is what she wrote on Twitter:

Ah e ano ba akala sa damit ng mga magsasaka at pamilya? Branded? Tama ang drawing. Miserable ang buhay ng mga magsasaka natin. Nagkakabagong damit lang ang magsasaka ‘pag may libreng tshirt sa hardware (tuwing pasko) o give away sa election.

(So what do you think of the clothes of farmers and families – Branded? The drawing is correct. The lives of our farmers are miserable. Farmers can enjoy new clothes only if there is free T-shirt from the hardware (come Christmas), or give-away during elections.)

Miss Suzette must believe what she is saying – look at her wide smile!

But I thank you! Miss Suzette for those 41 Twitter words of yours I quoted above. I have been educated. Now I know that even media people are uneducated about the Philippines!

In this pandemic lockdown since March 2020, are we in what George Orwell describes in his prescient novel 1984, the perfect imperfect situation?

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

The illustration appears in an English module for Grade 3 pupils about “proper and common nouns” that depict a farming family as impoverished. I say the illustration itself is improper! As a media person, an agriculturist, and a certified Civil Service Professional teacher, I cannot allow DepEd to continue to depict its ignorance on farmers’ lives. There are many poor farmers, yes, but they are not as poor as the drawing above is unhappily showing everyone. This demeaning depiction of the family of a Filipino farmer must be discontinued to exist on the pages of the modules of DepEd. They are teaching the wrong things about Philippine agriculture to Filipino children!

Why? Because that the typical Filipino farmer is a pauper is one of the latest fantasies of the creator of Encantadia!@

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2020/11/19/2058024/no-discrimination-encantadia-creator-agrees-farmers-look-deped-module

Plant Breeders, Also Journalists Are Important In Developing PH Agriculture – But They Must Practice “Science With A Human Phase”

Remember: Science is for People, not Plant Breeders, not Journalists.

The article “SEARCA Tells Filipino Plant Breeders To Use Genomics In Crop Dev’t” in the Manila Bulletin of 23 November 2020 by Madelaine B Miraflor‌, has lessons for the Editor and the Journalist.

I happen to be an agriculturist, writer & editor. So I know that there, the Journalist misses the point of the news coming from the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture, SEARCA. The angle of the Journalist is off tangent. Yes, SEARCA said, via Director Glenn B Gregorio, “Plant breeders should use technology that makes use of gene transformation to fast-track development of crops like the Golden Rice, which has superior traits.” But that is not the major message of Mr Gregorio.

We can find that main point from what the SEARCA Director says, which the Journalist herself quotes:

I am a plant breeder, and I’m very familiar with (molecular) marker-assisted selection. As I get older, I realize the importance of sales, of commercialization. We should have market-aided selection so that our selection for traits should be based on the market, not only markers (molecular markers). There should always be a business component in everything we do.

When scientists produce a genetically modified organism, GMO, like Golden Rice that which they have bred to produce more Vitamin A than the usual rice grain, those scientists do not produce for their own satisfaction but for the rice eaters.

The market for science is the people, not the scientists!
(“Science for the people[1]” image from Astig.ph)

Very clearly, Mr Gregorio is saying, “I realize the importance of sales, of commercialization.” You have a beautiful produce? You still have to sell it to the public. “Science with a human face” was how Secretary of Agriculture William Dar put it when he was Director General of ICRISAT 2000-2014. If the people do not like your product, they will not bite!

Plant breeding is for people, not plant breeders. “We should have market-aided selection so that our selection for traits should be based on the market, not only markers (molecular markers).” The human phase is: Breed the crop according to what the target consumers want, or need.

Yes, the Journalist is right in claiming that Mr Gregorio said to use genomics in crop development, so that you can breed faster a desired crop and reduce breeding costs by 32% compared to the conventional methods. But the customer must like your new product, or there is no sale!

I remember now my idol. Whom the GMO people should be emulating in creating new products is the genius Steve Jobs of Apple – he instinctively knew what people wanted even if they could not articulate it. No market research, but when the iPod appeared, everyone wanted it! And so with the iPhone, and the iPad (tablet computer)…

Everyone needs Steve Jobs’ genius to produce and sell new products. Even among plant breeders, may his tribe increase!@517

 

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[1]https://astig.ph/bulacan-state-university-science-technology-week-2019-event/

Entrepreneurship In Agriculture School For The Youth, EASY! How To Become Rich As A Farmer

A college degree does not teach you how to become a rich farmer – you have to learn actual entrepreneurship in the field itself!

Above, “Is This The End Of College As We Know It?” is a Facebook sharing by Ivanka Trump, adult & digitally aware daughter of US President Donald Trump. The image comes from the article of that title[1] by Douglas Belkin in The Wall Street Journal published 12 November 2020. I cannot access the WSJ article, but suffice it for me to say that the American reality is the same Philippine reality – we are looking at being digital already.

Whatever the state of college education – which to this teacher is malabo, blurred, unclear – that WSJ story simply inspires me to think of PH youth going into agriculture but not having to earn a college degree, those young ones between 15 and 24 years of age, by UN definition. And this is what I’m thinking as the educational setup:

Entrepreneurship in Agriculture School for the Youth. EASY!

The school EASY will be hosted by willing and able state colleges & universities, SCUs, with funding from the Department of Agriculture. Calling the attention of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar!

The schooling/non-schooling is to follow the Danish Folk High School formula, where the Guru assigned to the student helps him/her determine the Subject Matters – and who are the mentors that could help the student understand more toward becoming an entrepreneur in agriculture.

I’m thinking of a 2-year entrepreneurial learning-work program for the youth:

Year 1 is Field Practice.
First, Digital Search:
Digital searches for agriculture options, then actually applied in the field: Crops, Combinations, Cultivations, Consequences. The Crops, Combinations & Cultivations are to be the products of digital research, defended in class by the proponent youth. Much like a thesis, the results of the defense will be applied in the field. The Consequences are to be reported and defended again in class.

Next, Actual Farming:
The youth now undertakes actual farming. One will keep records of crop, combinations, inputs, technologies, and machines – costs & returns. The Guru will try to help one succeed in earning much from so much labor.

Year 2 is Entrepreneurship Practice.
The Guru discusses what the youth has achieved in Year 1 in terms of what I call The Four Sustainability Successes:

1.  Technical Success – Which of the technologies, techniques and systems that he used in Year 1 actually worked as expected?

2.  Economic Success – How much did the youth entrepreneur earn as net in each of the farm produce? Which inputs put the earnings down and which inputs put the earnings up?

3.  Environmental Success – Did the Field Practice in fact conserve natural resources?

4.  Social Success – Is the way of farming as practiced in the field acceptable to the village where the farm is located?

That is to say, EASY entrepreneurship is a Four Successes Story!

All in all: An entrepreneur is not born – s/he is made. And it is those 4 Successes that make one!@

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[1]https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-this-the-end-of-college-as-we-know-it-11605196909

Exporting Mature Coconuts, PH Lazy Juans Will Make China & Malaysia Very, Very Happy!

“MinDA Chief Seeks Lifting Of Ban On Mature Coconut Exports[1]” ANN says (Author Not Named, 04 September 2020, BusinessMirror.com), Facebook sharing by Nestor V Saludo today, 22 November 2020. Mindanao Development Authority, MinDA, Chief Manny Piñol is seeking the exemption of Mindanao from the effects of PD 1106, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos, FM, in 1985, which banned the export of mature and dehusked nuts. Mr Piñol wants PD 1106 to “be lifted to immediately help coconut farmers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic” for Mindanao farmers. Actually, in November 2018 yet, Secretary of Agriculture Manny Piñol already officially requested that such a ban be lifted.

Ah, Mr Piñol, my hero FM believed in simple economic wisdom:

If you sell your raw materials, you’re selling yourself cheap!
Because you are selling your would-be several products as only one cheap product!

If you do that, the Malaysians will love you; the Chinese will love you even more so! You are not competing with them – in fact, you are helping them commercially defeat you!

The best thing to do is to diversify your product line – and you cannot diversify if you are selling the raw material itself!

From the Philippine Coconut Authority, PCA, ANN writes, “Coconut Farmer Groups, Industry Stakeholders Oppose Calls To Allow Export Of Matured Coconuts[2]” (Author Not Named, PCA.gov.ph):

Coconut farmer groups from different parts of the country expressed their opposition against allowing the export of (mature) coconuts as it would result (in) the depletion of raw materials, processed and value-added coco products, loss of jobs, and closing of small to medium businesses.

If you don’t have raw materials, you don’t have processed products; if you don’t have products, you don’t have jobs – with both happening, small to medium businesses will close. Everybody loses!

ANN says:

Piñol said unless the ban is lifted, the country’s coconut farmers, who, he said, are reeling from effects of low copra prices due to the influx of other alternative cooking oils, would not be able to take advantage of the mature coconut market.

Contrariwise, ANN says the PCA has so far received letters, resolutions and manifestos from a total of 94 Small Coconut Farmers Organizations (SCFOs) from the many regions of the country, expressing their opposition to the proposal to export whole coconuts. Let us listen to one statement. Joel Naciongayo, Provincial SCFO Chair of the Province of Zamboanga del Sur composed of 19 municipal SCFOs, says:

What the coconut farmers need is a long-term remedy that will not harm the future of the coconut industry, especially in the province of Zamboanga del Sur. The exportation of (mature) nuts will also cause the depletion of raw materials especially for the banner products of the province which are coco coir, coco sugar and virgin coconut oil (VCO).

That from a Mindanao coconut farmer-leader: If you export your raw material of coconut nuts, you will have no coconut coir, no coconut sugar, and no virgin coconut oil.

In that case, you are committing coconut suicide!@517

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[1]https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/09/04/minda-chief-seeks-lifting-of-ban-on-mature-coconut-exports/

[2]https://pca.gov.ph/index.php/10-news/325-coconut-farmer-groups-industry-stakeholders-oppose-calls-to-allow-export-of-matured-coconuts

“Mr Asian Science Leader” He Is To Me

How many lifetimes has PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar lived so far? You don’t know but as of today, Mr Dar has received 3 lifetime awards in science leadership, that is, in 2010, 2014, and 2020.

I have been following Mr Dar’s career since January 2007, when he made me a work-from-home, WFH, international consultant of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, when he was Director General, 2000-2014.

3^rd Lifetime Achievement Award
Today, from a press release of the Department of Agriculture, DA, where he is Chief, I learned that Mr Dar received yesterday, 20 November 2020, the “Lifetime Excellence Award” given by the Asia Leaders Awards, ALA. According to its website (Asia Leaders Awards.asia), the ALA is meant[1]:

To acknowledge these leaders who are making a difference not only in their respective fields but also promoting the Philippines as the premier business hub in Asia and beyond.

Mr Dar is not a businessman but in advancing PH Agriculture like never before with his call for “The New Thinking for Agriculture,” he is indeed “promoting the Philippines as a business hub in Asia and beyond.” The news from the DA says this award was “in recognition of his over four decades of dedicated servant leadership to attain food security, both in the Philippines and in other parts of the world.” He inspires.

2^ndLifetime Achievement Award
Mr Dar’s 2^nd Lifetime Achievement Award was from the “7^thAgriculture Leadership Summit” held in India 27 September 2014 (“ICRISAT DG gets Lifetime Achievement Award At Agriculture Leadership Summit[2],” Ruralmarketing.in). It was he who brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among the 15 CGIAR international centers being its Team Captain & Servant Leader.

1^stLifetime Achievement Award
Mr Dar’s 1^st leadership award was the “PSAI Lifetime Achievement Award” from the PCARRD Scholars Association Inc, PSAI, given 09 November 2010[3] (ICRISAT Happenings, Icrisat.org). Mr Dar had been an innovative Executive Director of Philippine Council for Agriculture & Resources Research & Development, PCARRD.

More on the 3^rd Lifetime Achievement Award, more properly called “Lifetime Excellence Award” – According to the DA source, this was “in recognition of his over four decades of dedicated servant leadership.” I say that includes being Director of the Philippine Bureau of Agricultural Research, 1987-1994; Executive Director of PCARRD, 1994-1998; and earlier PH Secretary of Agriculture 1998-1999.

As head of ICRISAT, Mr Dar worked with this slogan: “Science with a human face.” His science leadership was dedicated to the poor from the start, as he comes from a poor family in Ilocos Sur. He is the epitome of a poor boy who made good in his country as well as abroad.

In his acceptance speech of the Asia Leaders Awards 2020, Mr Dar emphasized:

I’m very thankful for recognizing my efforts — and the collective achievements of the Department of Agriculture (DA) — thus far.

For all that, this WFH is saying, Mr Dar deserves the title “Mr Asian Science Leader.” There’s more to expect where it’s all coming from!@517

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[1]https://asialeadersawards.asia/about

[2]https://ruralmarketing.in/stories/icrisat-dg-gets-lifetime-achievement-award-at-agriculture-leadership-summit/

[3]http://www.icrisat.org/newsroom/latest-news/happenings/happenings1440.htm#9

Beautiful To Contemplate, Healthful To Consummate!

Question: Above, more than the flowers, what makes the scene beautiful? 
Answer: The clean, good-looking cabbage heads.

That is from a Facebook sharing of William Dar, PH Secretary of Agriculture. Get it?

That method of planting is what farmers and gardeners call interplanting, planting in-between rows. I’m an Agriculturist, but I’m not familiar with the flowers, so I cannot tell you the name – but I can tell you that the flowering plant is grown for a double purpose: one, for the passersby to admire; two, for the insects to appreciate, approach and eat! Cabbage heads safe.

That Facebook sharing is itself a Facebook sharing of Asuncion Soriano-Garcia titled, ““Pesticide-Free, No Cabbage Worms.”

Question: Why don’t we see perfect cabbage heads all the time?!
Answer: Our cabbage growers’ heads are not perfect!

They do not apply the science that is already there: Intercropping and/or Multiple Cropping. Instead of just one farm produce, two or more. And not only do you get more food from the same piece of land – you get healthier foods, and you get healthier incomes, because the people who know about pesticide residues will patronize your cabbage – your price!

In 1979, or 41 years ago, Lucio B Victor of UP Los Baños studied intercropping and succession cropping at UP Los Baños campus in Laguna, and at the Mountain State Agricultural College, MSAC in Benguet in both dry and wet seasons[1](Scinet.dost.gov.ph); it was his thesis. The thesis, “Multiple Cropping Compatibility Of Cabbage, Tomato, Bush Bean And Green Onion Grown In Two Locations And Seasons,” was conducted on combinations of the following crops grown in the same field: bush bean, cabbage, green onion, and tomato; and in both dry and wet seasons. The results of the research showed that the best combination was tomato plus cabbage, which yielded more than the other crop combinations, with peso values significant at 0.01 level of probability compared to either cabbage plus bush bean or cabbage plus green onion. Actually, you are already a winner if you don’t use any pesticide to defeat the worms!

In another and much later study[2], conducted in Ghana in 2007, E Asare-Bediako, AA Addo-Quaye & A Mohammed found that the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) of cabbage can be controlled, without pesticides, by intercropping with onion, pepper, and tomato. No spraying with chlorpyrifos!

The planting technique is also referred to as “trap cropping” whereby another crop is planted with the main crop to “protect” it from a certain pest or several pests (ANN, undated, “Trap Cropping[3],” Pan Germany, Oisat.org).

There are 2 types of trap cropping according to ANN: perimeter trap cropping (planted completely around the main crop), and row intercropping (the one you see above). If you are not yet convinced of the wisdom, remember the advantages of trap cropping include (a) preserving natural enemies of pests, (b) improving quality of produce, and (c) helping conserve soil and environment.

Did you notice: The trap crop is the one that actually fools the worms? Lesson in life: Some attractions may be traps in disguise!@517

 

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[1]http://scinet.dost.gov.ph/union/ShowSearchResult.php?s=2&f=&p=&x=&page=&sid=1&id=Multiple+cropping+compatibility+of+cabbage%2C+tomato%2C+bush+bean+and+green+onion+grown+in+two+locations+and+seasons.&Mtype=THESES

[2]https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ajft.2010.269.274

[3]http://www.oisat.org/control_methods/cultural__practices/trap_cropping.html

Here’s Rice Growing With Trees On Top Of Climate Change. I Have An Even Sweeter Idea!

Lower image: Flooding is so widespread and deep there are no signs of life. Dreadful!

From a Facebook sharing by PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, “Climate Change Bigger Threat Than Covid-19 – Red Cross[1]” (AFP, 18 November 2020, Manila Times), here is what Red Cross is saying:

The world should react with the same urgency to climate change as to the coronavirus crisis, the Red Cross said on Tuesday, warning that global warming poses a greater threat than the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Publicly, relief operations are underway; privately, donations in cash or kind are being sought for the residents of the provinces of Cagayan & Isabela in Northern Luzon.

From a Facebook sharing by Nestor V Saludo, I noted “Reforestation Thru Agroforestry” presented in a webinar on 24 October 2020 by Forester Romana Atienza Mauricio of the Ecosystem Research & Development Bureau, ERDB, which is under the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, DENR. So, thinking of ERDB & DENR and devastating floods from typhoons during the wet season, my recommendation is

Agriculture Thru Agroforestry!
Rice growing with trees.

Trees as companion, as protection from gusts of winds in a storm. Farmers will be harvesting rice and fruits.

I thought I Filipino was the first to think of rice growing in an agroforest setting but not so. Already, the FAO has published Agroforestry In Rice-Production Landscapes In Southeast Asia: A Practical Manual[2] (downloadable as pdf from FAO.org). It was published in 2004 by the World Agroforestry Centre, 106 pages.
(upper image of trees & rice from FAO manual)

There is still another beautiful option:
Instead of raising rice, raise canes!
Instead of rice & trees, plant sweet sorghum.

Why, you ask. Because, I say: Sugar is sweet – sweet sorghum is sweeter!

In fact, I wrote about this crop some 13 years ago; see my “ICRISAT & The Profits Of Boom. Sorgo: A Rich Man’s Choice Of A Poor Man’s Crop,” (05 May 2007, iCRiSAT Watch, Blogspot.com). ­­There I wrote about the:

(1)Environmental profits – Sweet sorghum thrives even on poor soil.

(2)Financial profits – Farmers can grow sweet sorghum well without fertilizer and pesticide.

(3)Employment profits – For farm hands and landowner if there is a distillery to buy the canes for biofuel.

(4)Multiplier profits – Earnings from sweet sorghum grains, jaggery (unrefined sugar), canes for cattle, syrup.

I visited Antonio Arcangel, head of Bapamin Farmer’s Cooperative, in March 2012 in his farm in Batac, Ilocos Norte and saw that they were already producing 10 products from sweet sorghum: cookies, flour, juice, liniment, shower gel, soap, sweetener, syrup, vinegar, and wine. How good are the products? Example: My Ilocano taste of the vinegar said, “Excellent!”

Why sweet sorghum vs climate change? It’s flood tolerant. Mr Arcangel said the stalks would set themselves upright after a flood, which rice cannot hope to execute!

But if you insist on rice agroforestry, at least it’s 2 birds with 1 stone: Adapting to climate change, as well as mitigating its ill-effects.@517

 

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[1]https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/11/18/news/top-stories/climate-change-bigger-threat-than-covid-19-red-cross/797996/

[2]http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7137e.pdf

Genius Mind-Play. The ABZ Of Creative Thinking

Childish, right? Playful. Exactly! That’s why it’s the best way to think of something new, or think out of something bothering you! For good.

The genius behind? American psychologist Carol Dweck, popularized in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. “In recent years, many schools and educators have started using Dweck's theories to inform how they teach students” (ANN, 29 August 2013, “Growth Mindset[1],” Great Schools Partnership).

Ah, but the moment I saw the Facebook sharing by Lina Concepcion Luna Ilag today, Wednesday, 18 November 2020, immediately, to teach everyone I reinvented the name to this:

Genius Mind-Play: The ABZ Of Creative Thinking.

Now then, whoever you are, simply browse the ABZ entries first and you will profit just by reading!

Attitude & effort determine how much I learn.
I can Be Brave & step out of my comfort zone.
Challenges help me grow.
I’ll try a Different strategy.
Effort makes me stronger.
I can welcome Feedback.
Getting better takes time.
How can I build on my strengths?
I can choose a growth mindset.
Learning is a Journey.
I can Keep an open mind.
Learning is my goal … not perfection.
Mistakes help me improve.
New things are opportunities for me to learn.
It’s Ok to not know something.
Plan B might work.
When I ask Questions, I learn.
It’s okay to take Risks.
Success of others inspires me.
I can choose to Try again.
Unsuccessful attempts are part of the process.
Valuable information can be found in every failure.
What can I learn from this?
XYZ didn’t work. I’ll try ABC.
I don’t know how to do this… Yet!
Zany ideas can lead to amazing things.

Me, as a creative writer, non-fiction, when I reached and read the last entry, Z, this was my immediate Facebook comment:

“Zany ideas can lead to amazing things" = if you are looking for only one, that's the secret of my creative writing. (yes, i am the most creative blogger you can find – i have thousands upon thousands of essays of at least 1,000 words each published in my blogs: just google "Frank A Hilario" including the double quotes.)

If you’re not a teacher or writer? Think Genius Mind-Play anyway:

When you have a problem,
When something is bothering you,
When you seem to be at the end of your rope,
When you need something else badly,
When you feel useless,
When you cannot continue something  you have begun,
When you feel frustrated,
When you are about to make an important decision,
When you are looking for a solution that doesn’t seem to exist!

Am now 80, continuing to blog everyday. Before this, I have been using Edward De Bono’s Po Technique for creative thinking – Po is work & play, but Genius Mind-Play is better!

You are talking to yourself alone. Whether you are still a teenager in high school or a senior like me out of school:

Using Genius Mind-Play to help you in your thinking makes you a genius: productive, creative, happy. This is a happy genius writing!@517

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[1]https://www.edglossary.org/growth-mindset/#:~:text=The%20concept%20of%20a%20growth,inform%20how%20they%20teach%20students.

Proclaiming The Gospel, Proclaiming “The New Thinking For Agriculture”

“We Don’t Need Nice Homilies[1]” is one of the latest preachings of Roman Catholic laity proselytizer Scott Hahn. From Ohio, he is urging priests to preach boldly, especially considering these lockdown times, imploring them:

There is a need today for strong proclamation of the Gospel – and nowhere is this more true than in the need for strong preaching and teaching. But priests today are pressured to make homilies light, short, and uncontroversial.

And I find myself, a “convert” from “safe” or non-controversial journalism in agriculture to boldly proclaiming a “new gospel” as it were, which Secretary of Agriculture William Dar calls “The New Thinking for Agriculture” with its accompanying “8 Paradigms” that are contributory to its execution. The paradigms are: (1) Modernization, (2) Industrialization, (3) Promotion of exports, (4) Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms, (5) Infrastructure development, (6) Higher budget & investment, (7) Legislative support, and (8) Roadmap development.

Even without so much explanation, the “8 Paradigms” for “The New Thinking for Agriculture” are not that difficult to discern. Lazy Juans, Philippine journalists and columnists in agriculture have not picked them up and explained to their readers whether they agree with them or not.

Even Jesus Christ needed disciples to win the people over to the side of The Good!

As intimated by the image above, in both Religion and Agriculture, what is called for today is Critical Thinking – in Agriculture about Sustainability and in Catholicism about being true to the gospel for the Good, Better, Best!

And I equate sustainability of PH Agriculture with farmer sustainability – his earning a decent income according to his labors, and his poverty not taken advantage of by loan sharks and greedy merchants.

“The Road To Emmaus” is Mr Hahn’s continuing broadcasts to the Catholic faithful; the title tells of the first appearance of Jesus to his disciples after his Resurrection – I think we Catholics/Christians should all be travelling to Emmaus and Christ will surely meet us there! We need Christ’s disciples to show us the way!

Meanwhile, the Filipino farmer is the Lazy Juan not thinking about uneconomic farming: borrowing cash from a usurer, over-applying fertilizers and farm chemicals, and selling to merchants who cheat him. Farmers need economic advisers to show him the way!

Our PH Messiah in this case is personified by the Secretary of Agriculture, who has so far shown that his gospel, as it were, is for a richer agriculture for Every Juan.

All things considered, the most “advanced” municipality in farming in the Philippines right now is the town of Mina in Iloilo. And so, “The majority of the farmers in Mina (have been) able to access various interventions from the (DA), ranging from certified and hybrid seeds to fertilizer, machinery, extension services, and market linkages” (see my essay, “MMFFA Showing Good Way To Farmer Association – It Could Be Better[2]!” 14 November 2020, BraveNewWorld@PH).

All 22 barangay associations in Mina are united. That is how you contribute to the realization of the new PH Agriculture: Link to start; then think together.@517

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[1]https://stpaulcenter.com/audio/the-road-to-emmaus/bonus-episode-we-dont-need-nice-homilies/

[2]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2020/11/mmffa-showing-good-way-to-farmer.html

“Rice. It Takes 5,000 Liters Of Water To Produce A Kilo Of Rice. Every Grain Counts.” Every Drop Counts!

On Facebook, above, I was horrified to read: “Rice. It takes 5,000 liters of water to produce a kilo of rice. Every grain counts.”

My reaction was: Isn’t that insane!? My God! Woefully, we are wasting water! Every drop counts!
(“Creative ways to save water[1]” image from Ecolife)

Is that piece of pinoyrice.com data wrong? I googled, and IRRI says that in India and the Philippines, the average is about 3,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilo of rice[2] (Knowledge Bank, IRRI.org). Not 5,000. So, that rice data is 40% wrong!

Actually, IRRI contradicts itself; elsewhere but in the same website, Rice Knowledge Bank, it says, “It takes 1,432 liters of water to produce 1 kg of rice[3].” So that rice data is 71% wrong!

Still, I question the 1,432 liters. I am an Agriculturist, a farmer’s son, and I went to the fields with my farmer father a few times, including harvesting rice with scythe. (Unfortunately, I sliced my left thumb, end of learning!)

I know that irrigation water in rice is used to flood the field, for several reasons:

(1) Control weed growth – Weed seeds cannot germinate.

(2) Control pest population – Insects & other organisms cannot thrive.

(3) Control disease occurrence – Soil-borne disease-causing organisms are killed.

What about methane and nitrous oxide emissions from flooded rice fields[4], as pointed out by BO Sander, KM Samson & RJ Buresh (Climate & Clean Air Coalition)? I never liked flooded ricefields since the first time I saw them!

We can avoidflooded ricefields. The creative cultivation technique?

Rotavate the field in such a way that you create an automatic organic matter layer all over the field!

This is an original technique I came up with many years ago. This results in the following:

(1)No weed growth because the weeds & their seeds are mechanically & biologically destroyed once and for all!

(2)Soil-borne disease-causing organisms are killed 100% along with the weeds.

(3)The soil all over the field is enriched with natural organic matter. 

(4)The soil is moist throughout the growing season because of the organic matter that has been laid on the surface of the whole field, trapping enough water from the rain as well as from capillary water rising from underground.

Sounds too good to be true? In fact, my brother-in-law Lorenzo Casasus has been practicing my rotavation technique with rice in the last 45 years in our hometown Asingan in Pangasinan – and has been consistently outyielding much his neighbor farmers! That technique came from me, from my wide reading and musings. I told him not to teach the technique, selfish me.

In any case, I personally challenge PhilRice for me to demonstrate what I have just described, either in Batac, Ilocos Norte; PhilRice Maligaya headquarters; or UP Los Baños PhilRice Station. Since I’m a poor man, all expenses must be shouldered by PhilRice.

No time/water to lose! A World-Wide Revolution in Rice Agriculture coming up!@517

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[1]https://www.ecolifeconservation.org/updates/creative-ways-to-save-water/

[2]http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/ericeproduction/III.1_Water_usage_in_rice.htm

[3]http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/step-by-step-production/growth/water-management#:~:text=Continuous%20flooding%20helps%20ensure%20sufficient%20water%20and%20control%20weeds.&text=On%20average%2C%20it%20takes%201%2C432,an%20irrigated%20lowland%20production%20system.

[4]https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/resources/methane-and-nitrous-oxide-emissions-flooded-rice-fields-affected-water-and-straw