Birds Of A Feather Flock Together – An Agricultural Advice For The Cordillera Autonomous Region

On 19 September 2019, the Cordillera Autonomous Region, CAR, via the Cordillera Regional Development Council, adopted the Cordillera Regional Development Plan 2017-2022 Midterm Update that detailed the region’s strategic thrusts for 2020-2022[1] (ANN, Cordillera Autonomous Region, National Economic & Development Authority):

The Regional Plan is aligned with the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 (that) serves as the current administration’s strategy for national development anchored on enhancing social fabric (malasakit), reducing inequality (pagbabago), and increasing growth potential (patuloy na pag-unlad).

Be that as it may, I keep looking for the in/dependent CAR plan for regional development in the next 20 years, but I cannot find any. So, the CAR is left saying, above, ”enhancing social fabric” and “reducing inequality” and “increasing growth potential.” The CAR has no Vision, Mission, Goal and Strategy by itself, which I think is unfortunate. So it cannot plan except vaguely what development programs have to be done for the indigenous peoples – Igorots – of the Cordillera. (Image of young eagle leaping into freedom for the first time from Manila Bulletin[2].)

I suggest a Vision, and it could be something dreamable like

Cordillera, The Vegetables Capital of the Philippines.

“Vegetables,” plural. Each province of the Cordillera could select its preferred vegetable to grow and attract customers from all over Luzon.

Now note the superimposed images above: Secretary of Agriculture William Dar and Sadanga Mayor Gabino Ganggangan in a press conference “on efforts to end local Communist armed conflict, the Covid-19 situation, (and) regional development” (from Facebook sharing of PIA Cordillera, 19 June 2020).

When Manong Willie was Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, from 2000 to 2014, ICRISAT had an achievable Vision: Science with a human face. Science in the service of the people.

Now that the CAR linkage with the DA has been achieved, I suggest that the CAR strengthens its ties with this government agency so that the autonomous region can receive any combination of the assistances that the DA is providing farmers all over the country. That’s why I suggested Cordillera as The Vegetables Capital of the Philippines. (And by the way, Manong Willie has a PhD in Horticulture that he obtained from UP Los Baños in 1987; if you did not know, Vegetables (Olericulture) is 1/4th of the concerns of Horticulture; the other 3 are Flowers (Floriculture), Trees (Pomology),

Importantly, your vegetable farming in each CAR province should be run by multi-purpose coops, which I call Super Coops, which then takes care of everything: seeds, fertilizers, organic pest & disease control agents. loans, technologies, systems, machinery, drying, warehousing – up to marketing. Yes, the marketing should be done by the Super Coop, to protect the interest of the farmers.

And you know what? All these thoughts have been simmering in my mind since I came to know William Dar, when he was still DG of ICRISAT. He retired as DG in 2014 – but there is still much genius and guts in him to watch out for!@517

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[1]http://car.neda.gov.ph/rdc-car-discusses-gains-remaining-challenges-and-development-strategies-in-updated-regional-development-plan/

[2]https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/08/26/cordillera-autonomous-regions-time-has-come-1/

The Chickens That Laid Golden Eggs – A PH Story

With this, Reader, you will realize that we Filipinos have had those Golden Hens – so I am calling for raising of PH native chickens in the entire archipelago, in thousands of islands. (golden eggs image from Fine Art America[1])

With Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, if the PH Department of Agriculture, DA, produce enough stocks of native chickens for 7 selected regions of the country – the agency under it, the Bureau of Animal Industry, BAI, could if they would – we Filipinos would be witness to many a vibrant PH poultry businesses: eggs, raw meats, processed meats, even pre-cooked whole chickens, and the live birds themselves.

It would be the Golden Age of Chickens the entire world has never witnessed before!

I don’t know why no Secretary of Agriculture has ever pursued a native chicken program in this country: Poor taste?

You don’t have to import anything to grow the native chickens into a multi-billion peso industry. Of the fowl, the Philippines has at least 7 strains, according to Zac Sarian (Zac B. Sarian[2]): (1) the Banaba from Batangas, (2) Boholano from Bohol, (3) Bolinao from Pangasinan, (4) Camarines from the Bicol Region, (5) Darag from Panay, (6) Paraoakan from Palawan, and (7) Zampen from Zamboanga. I will add the (8) Joloano from Basilan, from the Philippine Native Animals 150-page book I edited & produced for the National Swine & Poultry Research & Development Center, NSPRDC, published in 2016 and authored by Angel Lambio, Rene Santiago and Karen Dimaranan; here is the complete title:

PHILIPPINE NATIVE ANIMALS
Source Of Pride & Wealth Worth Conserving & Utilizing

The native animals are carabaos, chickens, cows, ducks, goats, horses, and pigs.

I don’t know why no one has ever campaigned for a national production program using our native chickens.

In his Foreword to the book, UPLB poultry scientist Lambio said that the following are the attractions of native animals – and they fit perfectly well applied to native chickens, as they are sources of:

(1) pride

(2) distinctive desirable taste

(3) high-quality protein

(4) high income (meat, milk, eggs)

(5) added income (processed products)

(6) recreation

(7) healthful foods.

With or without the lockdown, it now has come to the point where in the Philippines you have to watch out for imported meat that may or may not be tainted with problematic microorganisms like viruses that kill animals – and humans – mercilessly.

So how about a national production campaign by the DA-BAI on our golden-egg-laying birds? The natives are that good!

I am thinking of 7 regions raising their own local endemic native chicken strain, no inter-island competition except for taste.

Food products, pick your choice! Whole chickens, half-chickens, wings, breasts, drumsticks – don’t forget the buckets – the whole family would be fighting for any of those parts, all insanely delicious to the taste! Even in history, it has always been the natives who have excited the discoverers.

For the feeds, noimported ingredients, no added vitamins, no minerals, no antibiotics, no growth hormones necessary!

Golden meats from golden eggs!@517

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[1]https://fineartamerica.com/featured/golden-eggs-golden-eggs-golden-chicken-hatched-from-a-golden-egg-igor-klyakhin.html

[2]https://zacsarian.com/getting-to-know-the-native-chickens-of-the-philippines/

Angel Locsin, Blokes PH

Read up! “Darna sa tunay na buhay.” Darna in real life. Yes, with Norman Willam Santos Kraft per his sharing on Facebook, we are looking at megastar Angel Locsin as a fearless warrior, empowered woman: PH fiction come alive. Heart-warming, inspiring.

“Angel Locsin, Blokes PH” – By Blokes, I mean Bodies leading onto knowledge empowering society. By her bodily presence in rallies and demonstrations, without violence she is encouraging her countrymen to say “No to injustice.”

Blokes also means Bloggers of knowledge empowering society. This is for writers dedicated to eradication of farmer poverty in the country. Blokes is a power word inspired by Darna!

PH aggie journalists! So now I am inviting you to submit articles to me – frankahilario@gmail.com– that I will publish online separately according to the following blogs:

Blokes4Chickens
Blokes4Goats
Blokes4NativePigs
Blokes4Rice
Blokes4Corn.

Instructions for writers:
Submit your article to me, preferably with a photo, and I will help you write a better one; you pay me only compliments.

To write, don’t forget to ask people, read materials available, and surf the Web. Put in also what you know. Are you going to write about the success of someone in the raising of native chickens, for instance? Make sure you also tell what circumstances in the life of that raiser can be compared to others so that they can be encouraged to go and do likewise? As much as possible, that success story must be repeatable by other people.

Write also about a successful family, group, association, or LGU working with farmers with promise of income.

My Role:
To mentor you, I will see to it that you write interestingly and not simply follow the old, lousy formula of Who, What, Where, When, Why? You are not simply writing to tell a story – you are writing to motivate others so they too can succeed if they did likewise. It will all be digital, the editing and mentoring. When I am satisfied with your work, I will then include it in the proper blog and give you the link to it.

Today, unfortunately, our PH journalists who should be openly and actively supporting Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie’s “The New Thinking for Agriculture” are nowhere to be found. Not one communicator from the Asian Institute for Journalism & Communication, AIJC; not one from the Philippine Agricultural Journalists, PAJ; not one communicator from the Central Luzon State University, CLSU; and not even one active aggie communicator from UP Los Baños’ College of Development Communication, CDC itself, the original PH DevCom.

The AIJC, PAJ, CLSU, CDC journalists for development are missing!

I think I know why – whatever brand of communication they have been trained on, they simply consider it an ID card for employment, not for public consumption.

It’s not for lack of talent for writing – it’s for lack of appreciation of the need for modern & traditional knowledge empowering society to pursue local and national development, both of which must be inclusive.

PH Journalists, if we don’t write for PH farmer empowerment, who will?
If not us, who?
If not now, when?@517

Super Coop Bank – The Missing Link

The above main image is actually the cover of the book published by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, ACPC, of the Philippines, which is under the Department of Agriculture, DA. The book was published in April 2012 celebrating ACPC’s Silver Anniversary. Titled The Filipino Farmer Is Bankable and subtitled Celebrating 25 Years Of The ACPC, all 150 pages of it, it is a coffee-table book, all pages in color. I was the one-man band writer, photographer, editor, desktop publisher – within 2 months of contract, it came out 25 April in 25 copies, first delivery, in time for that 25th-year ACPC celebration, at its Pasig City offices.

The cover is my photograph of a white-onion field of the Kalasag farmers’ coop in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, that has had years of rewarding production-to-marketing arrangements with national/international fast-food chain Jollibee Foods.

I did not think about it until today, Tuesday, 21 July 2020, when my 6-year old ideal of a Super Coop got married to the 8-year old reality (in my mind) of the Coop Bank, into the:

Super Coop Bank.

With billions of pesos, the ACPC has been working over the years with coop banks all over the country – a few of which I visited for the coffee-table book. With the ACPC, these coop banks have been successful in their operations working with cooperatives.

And that’s the point. This is what I am now thinking, not only to pursue but to push for agriculture development in the Philippines, and knowing that the ACPC is under the DA:

Secretary of Agriculture William Dar should build a number of pilot Super Coops in PH using Coop Banks under the direct supervision of the ACPC.

The Coop Banks will directly/indirectly supervise the application of coop loans so that in a little while the family of each farmer member of the Super Coop will be released from the shackles of poverty and stay out there in the field of prosperity as long as it behaves properly!

How? With generous loans granted to Super Coops, a Coop Bank will help each coop manage specifically the following:

(1) Production Loans. Granted to Super Coop farmer members, with training & instructions before the granting of each loan. Production covers the processes from planting to drying. No more loans from usurers, no matter how friendly they are, or even if they are family!

(2) Technologies Bank. The Coop Bank will require the Super Coop to gather data & information and make these available such as technologies and systems in usable media forms for the production of any crop, livestock, or any combination.

(3) Postharvest Loans. For the Super Coop itself to put up processing and warehousing units to handle and store farmer produce.

(4) Marketing Arrangements. The Super Coop will forge buy-and-sell transactions with institutional or group buyers – never individual buyers. (Bagsakan centers will not be used as display-to-sell places.)

Via the ACPC, with so many of them cultivated in the country, Super Coop Banks cultivating Super Coops will lead to the eradication of poverty among poor Filipino farmers!@517

Journalists, Careful With Your Words – Editors, Careful With Your Journalists!

The moment I read the last 2 words in Revin Mikhael D Ochave’s title of his story in the BusinessWorld Online this morning’s Monday, 20 July 2020, “Philippine Food Security Seen Depending On Maximizing Research[1],” my editor’s instincts told me there was something wrong. (“Being Wrong” image from Compression Institute[2])

And there it was, same mistake by 2 different people – and, already

You know that 2 wrongs don’t make 1 right!

Those mistakes are in the very title of that story, and I repeat:

“Philippine Food Security Seen Depending On Maximizing Research”

Wrong word used, on 2 counts. One, there is no such thing as “minimizing research.” Two, even assuming that there is “maximizing research,” the report has nothing to do with it! 1 fault, 2 faulters.

Before I say more, let me introduce myself. BusinessWorld does not know me from Adam, so let me establish my credentials. I will mention just 3.

One, you can say English is not a foreign language to me, an Ilocano. I am a graduate of UP Los Baños, BS Agriculture with major in Ag Edu, 1965, with a Civil Service eligibility at Professional Level. I fell in love with the (American) English language when I was in high school yet more than 60 years ago. With all those classics, poems, westerns, and Perry Mason, the library was my intellectual home; the Reader’s Digest was my Bible. From them, I got theory and knowledge. My English became American.

Two, I began my unusual career as an Editor In Chief in 1975, Dinosaur Age (big typewriters). I founded and edited the 3 major publications of the Forest Research Institute, FORI: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat. My English became scientific.

Three, I began my even more unusual career as Editor In Chief after FORI. Self-taught in the Digital Age, I became Editor In Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, PJCS, in 2003, based at the campus of UP Los Baños. I was a one-man band Editor, Secretary and Layout Artist (Desktop Publisher) for the PJCS for the issues 2001 to 2008, and my total performance was international, so that the journal was included in the elite list (popularly called “ISI”) within 3 years, from being late 3 years. The ISI list includes only those whose scientific publications are of international quality.

Long story short, we go back to Mr Ochave’s story, “Philippine Food Security Seen Depending On Maximizing Research.” The problem there is “maximizing research” – I have never come across such a term or reality!

I blame both the Author and Editor.

I know it was written in a hurry, as most news items are – as you can see in the breathless construction of sentences and sequences of words. Please, when you write about science, about research and development, R&D, especially in agriculture, forget about “maximizing R&D.”

Actually, the BusinessWorld  report was on maximizing the “knowledge economy” in agriculture and maximizing the “intellectual capital” spent towards food security.

That’s capital!@517

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[1]https://www.bworldonline.com/philippine-food-security-seen-depending-on-maximizing-research/
[2]https://compression.org/being-wrong-adventures-in-the-margin-of-error-by-kathryn-schulz/

We Need More Prosperity Journalists! Pushing Farmers Up Maslow’s 2nd Level Hierarchy Of Needs

Farmers are humans, aren’t they? They have to meet a hierarchy of needs, as according to American psychologist Abraham Maslow, just like we do. Above, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar is speaking for farmers as he should. On his 4^thday as Secretary, Mr Dar (image from Food Evolution[1]) cited the “Family Income and Expenditure Survey,” which said that a typical Filipino farmer earned an average of only P100,000 per year, just over P8,300 a month, or had less than P300 daily available for expenses[2] for his family (08 August 2019, Ralph Rivas, Rappler). That is poor!

“Dar also admitted that prosperity is ‘non-existent’ in almost all agricultural households.”

So I say that a poor Filipino farmer family is not safe from want, not secure in meeting those physiological needs – the only resort is borrow usury money.

From the Maslow image (The School Of Life[3]), the 4 levels of human needs are:
4^th, Esteem (respect)
3^rd, Belongingness & Love (friends, lovers)
2^nd, Safety (security, protection)
1^st, Physiological (food, water, warmth, rest)

As the son of a farmer, an Agriculturist with a BSA from UP Los Baños, a very wide print and digital reader, a self-taught digital worker with words & ideas since 1985, and a blogger since 2005, in my mind and in my heart I know that the millions of PH farmers have reached only the 1^st Level and have not breached the 2^nd Level – our farmers do not yet feel secure and protected with their income and status in life.

Why have we been neglecting our farmers in the sense of Maslow? When will PH farmers breach the 1^st Level and go up the 2^nd?

To be prosperous, the farmer must be able to meet his (and family’s) Safety Needs.

It’s the income. The farmer’s income is enough only to meet the Physiological Needs but not the Safety Needs. So, how many Filipinos can you say are prosperous farmers right now? <1%.

We have not been intervening between farmers and usurers, and between farmers and merchants who take advantage of sellers all the time!

When one farmer prospers, he is lucky.

Social prosperity must be the goal of the journalist, not to mention of the government. 

I am now calling for more journalists pushing for farmer prosperity, journalists writing to help farmers pursue their needs for Prosperity (2^nd Level).

Being pursuers of farmer prosperity is not being consciously done by current aggie journalists – they simply report the news they hear or read, and hardly think to do more.

Yes, the reporting job is done, but the prosperity work is not there – I believe that is because aggie journalists do not think it is their duty to help farmers achieve the 2^ndLevel of Needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy. I must blame the old & new schools of journalism & communication for this – they don’t teach Maslow!

If aggie journalists are not for the prosperity of farmers,
who are?
If not us, who?
If not now, when?!@517

 

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[1]https://foodevolution.com.ph/2020/02/sure-loans-disbursed-to-farmers-reached-p2-25b/william-dar-14/
[2]https://rappler.com/business/william-dar-aims-agriculture-growth-double-income-farmers
[3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0PKWTta7lU

Digitally Reborn – (3) ABS-CBN Helps State Colleges & Universities Offer Non-Degree Courses Aside From Agriculture

I continue to look at ABS-CBN (in denial), in the digital world, where it can make a huge difference.

Worldwide, consider applying for jobs: More companies are now putting more weight on the skill of an applicant rather than the college degree. Ellen Ruppel Shell says, “College May Not Be Worth It Anymore[1]” (16 May 2018, New York Times). And here are “8 Job Skills You Should Have[2]” (Youth Central): (1) Communication, (2) Teamwork, (3) Problem-solving, (4) Initiative and enterprise, (5) Planning and organizing, (6) Self-management, (7) Learning, and (8) Technology. (Above, superimposed, image of 10 skills now being asked for when applying for a job[3], from JVS Toronto)

So, I’m thinking of this giant corporation called ABS-CBN giving assistances, if only digitally, to the many state colleges & universities, SCUs, of the Philippines, in cultivating the skills of the youth in any of the fields in agriculture – without a degree, just simply a certification from any of the SCUs of a certain skill having been acquired within the physical premises of such SCUs. Such as any combination of the following trainings:

(1) Growing a crop;
(2) Raising a native pig;
(3) Processing cacao seeds into chocolate;
(4) Culturing honey bees;
(5) Preparing organic fertilizer;
(6) Business incubation;
(7) Work from home.

Growing a specific crop:
For instance, rice. Thus, we have the so-called System of Rice Intensification, SRI, which is very different from the way we Filipinos have been growing rice. SRI gives much higher yields.

Raising a native pig:
Native pigs are known to be resistant to disease and not picky with food.

Growing & processing cacao into chocolate:
Filipino chocolates are world-class in taste.

Culturing honey bees:
If you live in an open field, you can culture bees for their honey.

Preparing organic fertilizers:
Employing earthworms is only one form.

Business incubation:
This is especially for innovators, or those with new or improved products.

Work from home (WFH):
The trend now is mastery or expertise with applications (PC programs). With adequate assistance from ABS-CBN, SCUs can teach digital skills essential for WFH.

And Multiple Intelligences!

Digital ABS-CBN can assist the SCUs in helping the youth discover and nourish their individual multiple intelligences, MI, as according to Harvard professor Howard Gardner. Here are the 9 Multiple Intelligences:

(1) bodily-kinesthetic – body smart;
(2) existential – world smart;
(3) interpersonal – inner-person smart;
(4) intrapersonal – other-people smart;
(5) linguistic – language smart;
(6) logical-mathematical – reasoning smart;
(7) musical-rhythmic – harmony smart;
(8) naturalistic – Nature smart;
(9) visual-spatial – perspective smart.

If you pursue multiple intelligences, you will see that there are no stupid or unteachable people – only people who have not discovered, or whom you have not helped discover – their individual intelligence, where they happen to be very good at.

Digital skills rather than degrees. MI could be the start of multiple learning & earning genres, not to mention games, all digital. In any field, including agriculture.

ABS-CBN, you must be learning to be very good at digital. Nobody else is!@517

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[1]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/opinion/college-useful-cost-jobs.html
[2]https://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/jobs-and-careers/plan-your-career/8-job-skills-you-should-have
[3]https://www.jvstoronto.org/blog/10-skills-that-employers-are-looking-for-in-2020/