06, The More The Merrier – PH DA Wants 800 Youths In Agribiz Mentorship Program

Forward the 800!

Meanwhile, I am seeing Double. As a cockeyed optimist, that’s what I am doing with the launching by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar of the “Mentoring and Attracting Youth in Agribusiness” (MAYA) Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

How is that? One:Youth learning agriculture as a business – happily. Two: Adults & Seniors learning agriculture as a way of life – unhappily. How? Seeing is dis/believing!

The news release from the DA says, “Thousands Apply For Youth Agribiz Mentorship Program[1]” (11 February 2021, DA.gov.ph). On 09 February 2021, MAYA had announced the opening of 800 youth scholarships. Immediately, “The online system was deluged with interested individuals, exceeding by four-fold the required number of interns.” Wanted: 800 MAYA scholars. Responded: 3,000 applicants.
(upper image[2] from DA website)

The young would-be farmers connect!

Already, the 800 are winners: Each MAYA scholar is entitled to a monthly allowance of P20,000 (US$400). And that allowance is only a start.

MAYA is accepting and will be mentoring Filipinos 20-30 years old, graduate of any 4- or 5-year degree course, preferably in agriculture, fisheries, and agribusiness. Says Director Vivencio Mamaril, who is head of the Bureau of Agricultural Research, the DA agency in-charge:

MAYA will be conducted through experiential learning, or a learner-centric methodology, that allows the interns to put into immediate use the knowledge and skills that they’ve learned in a relevant fashion.

In short: Now you know it; now you do it!

That is to say, it’s not the books, it’s not the looks – it’s the application. You don’t learn by knowing: you learn by doing.

This is a 6-month internship program, 24 weeks actual. The 800 will be deployed to different DA national (Office of the Secretary) and regional field offices.

After that, what? They may either opt for an agri-fishery business or pursue a career in the DA or any government agency.

For the business, the MAYA scholar may apply for a zero-interest loan with the DA’s Agricultural and Credit Policy Council (ACPC). With a proper proposal, naturally.

That’s the future. We go back to the present: If farming is not a business, what business have our current farmers doing it!?

Why does farming in the Philippines remain a bad business proposition? Because farmers don’t treat it as a business! Instead, they treat it as a way of life – wasteful fertilizing as a way of life, wasteful spraying against pests as a way of life, wasteful transplanting as a way of life, usurious 5-6 loans as a way of life, low farmgate prices as a way of life.

Ipinanganak tayong mahirap, brod! Anak ng magsasaka. Kaya. (We were born poor, brother! Son of a farmer. So.)

If farming is not a business, what business have farmers doing it!?

The problem with the old farmers is that they look at farming as a way of life, not as a way of bettering a life! Now, they will have to learn from the youth.

So? Forward the 800!@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/thousands-apply-for-youth-agribiz-mentorship-program/

[2]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-acpc-unveil-two-loan-programs-for-the-youth/

05, The More The Merrier – PH 17 Provinces Lead Agriculture & Fisheries Extension System

Yes, under PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, the Department of Agriculture(DA) will have 17 provinces leading the DA program “Province-Led Agriculture & Fisheries Extension System” (PAFES) nationwide, when in full initial blast, 1 lead province in each of the 17 regions of the Philippines, and here they are, from North to South:

Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
Ilocos Region (Region 1)
Cagayan Valley (Region 2)
Central Luzon (Region 3)
National Capital Region (NCR)
Calabarzon (Region 4-A)
Mimaropa (Region 4-B)
Bicol Region (Region 5)
Western Visayas (Region 6)
Central Visayas (Region 7)
Eastern Visayas (Region 8)
Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9)
Northern Mindanao (Region 10)
Davao Region (Region 11)
Soccsksargen (Region 12)
Caraga (Region 13)
Bangsamoro (BARMM)

But isn’t that too many leads – you know, “Too many cooks spoil the broth”?

No. The variations in the cooking will be minimal. Science works if you follow the rules – and it will be the same science from Region 1 (Ilocos) to Region 13 (Caraga). (Bangsamoro would/should know what is good for the Muslims.)
(upper image from DA website, lower image[1]from Facebook page of ATI)

Previously, there was this news release, “DA To Pursue Systematic, Strategic Approaches To Further ‘Grow’ (Agriculture & Fisheries Sectors)[2]” (23 December 2020). That is, to “fuel the transformation of the agriculture and fishery (sectors to help propel the Philippines) into a modernized and industrialized economic powerhouse.”

Mr Dar said in his memo to all top DA officials and key technical staff:

We shall depart from our usual approach of just targeting individual farms or groups without producing significant outcomes from interventions. We must be purpose-driven, ensuring that our programs and projects are of value, not only to recipients but more significantly to the whole society in real terms.

The last sentence is of extra-significant value I will repeat:

“We must be… ensuring that our programs and projects are of value… to the whole society in real terms.”

That is why I say: Stop the pursuit of Solo Success Stories! They are anathema to whole-Philippines progress.

The news release said:

At the core of this strategy is farm clustering and consolidation, dubbed as “Bayanihan Agri-Cluster” or BAC that aims to converge and integrate government interventions such as provision of loans, farm mechanization, free seeds and fertilizers, and market support.

Yes, the DA will be providing farmers’ access to loans and farm machines – the seeds, fertilizers, and market support will be free.

The news release also said:

The establishment of “agri-industrial business corridors” or ABCs will also be actively pursued in 2021. These hubs will serve as processing and marketing centers of agriculture and fishery products in identified production areas. All set to groundbreak is the ABC at New Clark Green City.

Mr Dar said, “The ABCs will house agri-business and multi-purpose facilities that will be key to managing and integrating the food supply chain, as well as introducing innovative agricultural (technologies) to farmers.”

The ABCs are designed to serve the whole alphabet of services to Philippine agriculture and fisheries!@517

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/atirtc12/photos/2804726853101167

[2]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-to-pursue-systematic-strategic-approaches-to-further-grow-agri-fishery-sector/

04, The More The Merrier – Mixed Topics To Write Into 1 Coherent Story

To write one solid, smooth-reading, 1000-word essay on several unrelated topics, I will now directly use my writing inspiration The More The Merrier (TM²) on somebody else’s multiple topics.

Let me apply TM²  to the problem of PhilStar Global columnist Cito Beltranin his published column of 12 February 2021 titled “Pigs, LTO, Hospitals, Etc[1]” (PhilStar.com). His piece is all of 991 words, including title and author. His lament is the very first sentence of his column:

“So many topics, so little space!”

I will now write an essay using TM², which I invented Sunday, Valentine’s Day. (Which reminds me; The More The Merrier is my Valentine’s gift to columnists, communicators, editorialists, preachers, speakers, and writers of any kind. TM² enables you to say more with less. Proof: This whole essay is only 517 words, almost 2x smaller than Mr Beltran’s.)

The image I show above, self-titled “The More The Merrier,” is sexual in orientation, so why did I choose it? Because it’s a perfect illustration of The More, The Merrier– several little messages but only 1 main message, repeated throughout: Love. The slogan of its source, LB111, is “Moving Beyond Monogamy.” Now, I have moved it beyond a sexist to a pregnant view!
(above image[2]” from Lab111.nl, which I elongated a little)

So, here’s how I would have written “Pigs, LTO, Hospitals, Etc.” if I were the columnist – TM² is using a single concept that ties up everything; this time, that concept is management:

1.   Managing African swine fever;

2.   Managing the LTO;

3.   Managing vaccination of foreigners; and

4.   Managing public hospitals.

Managing The African Swine Fever (ASF)
Under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is moving heaven and earth and public funds for soft loans for swine husbandry, or wifery – because you have to devote much of your time to grow pigs and, yes, you have to love them. Filipinos or Filipinas know and have always been willing to take the risk of piggery; same risk as pregnancy, I suppose. Noted: The DA is trying to contain the ASF, partnering with the private sector and local government units everywhere.

Managing The Land Transportation Office (LTO)
Legislators are zeroing in on the LTO regarding motor vehicle-related issues, particularly the Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers (PMVIC) controversy. Mr Beltran says, “I myself want to put a stop to the PMVIC program, but let us be clear about one thing, this program was hatched by the Department of Transportation and NOT the LTO.”

Managing Vaccination Of Foreigners
What is the plan of the Department of Health (DoH) for the COVID vaccination of foreigners, primarily permanent residents or those stuck in the Philippines? Mr Beltran says, “I was told that foreign embassies have no plan or can’t undertake such an operation, which leaves several hundred foreign spouses of Filipinos/Filipinas worried that they have been left out.” DoH!

I’m done. See? You can manage to write on unrelated topics, uniting them with a single idea! It’s called creativity.@BS

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2021/02/12/2077131/pigs-lto-hospitals-etc/amp/

[2]https://www.lab111.nl/tmtm/

03, The More The Merrier – PH Needs More Hogs In Manila, Less Critics!

“Pinoys absolutely love pork. Randomly enter a restaurant and there’s a fat chance you’ll sniff the rousing aroma of sizzling sisig, grilled liempo or if your host is big-time, lechon – a whole roasted pig!”

That’s what Gregg Yan says[1] (03 January 2020, Thepigsite.com). Count me in! I just love to bite into the crispy skin of a lechon and never ever think of hypertension – I’m just lean & mean.
(lower “Backyard Pig Farming” image[2] from PCARRD.dost.gov.ph)

There is some unsolicited advice about what to do with the current problematic PH supply of pork because of the African Swine Fever (ASF), comment/advice slyly directed at Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. Thank you, but you are assuming Mr Dar has no“Whole-Hog Plan” if I may call it that. You don’t know Mr Dar has been a science manager for 33 years, up to and including his incredible stint as the longest-running Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, for 3 terms or 15 years. (Based in Los Baños, IRRI is a sister agency of ICRISAT.)

“At the Lucena Port receiving 1,350 hogs in 13 trucks from GenSan for Metro Manila!” That is Mr Dar’s Facebook post Tuesday, 16 February 2021. My remark: “13 is a lucky number!” I’m trying to give some encouragement to those people at the port of Lucena City, as if they needed it. Mr Dar and team just came from Mindanao looking for as many hogs as Metro Manilans wished to hug.

I said “team” – from January 2000 to December 2014, Mr Dar assigned himself the task of being Team Captain to ICRISAT’s international employees, and brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among the 15 international aggie research centers of CGIAR, including world-famous IRRI.

If the Philippines is now Asian last in pork supply because of the ASF, Mr Dar does not need advice; rather, he needs support!

If you have an axe to grind, you will ignore Mr Dar’s long international exposure at science-and-people management and give your advice as if he does not know what he should be doing!

You have been paying attention to the digital media, or are just continuing to pursue your hidden agenda. In the news release “DA-PCIC Urges Raisers To Insure Hogs So They Can Bounce Back” –

Agriculture Secretary William Dar is urging backyard and commercial hog raisers to secure insurance packages so they can recover part of their investments, in case their farms are affected by the (ASF).

Mr Dar wants more hog raisers to raise more hogs and at the same time solicit the proper insurance package from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation. He says:

As the Department of Agriculture (DA) intensifies efforts to encourage hog raisers to get back to business and, ultimately, help pork production rebound, availing of an insurance coverage is a prudent safety net for existing raisers and for those in ASF-free areas who will venture into this business.

The PH Secretary of Agriculture means business!@517

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[1]https://www.thepigsite.com/articles/pork-remains-the-favourite-in-the-philippines

[2]http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/portal/index.php/quick-information-dispatch/3338-video-on-proper-pig-management-to-encourage-backyard-pig-farming-among-the-youth

02, The More The Merrier – 1,200+ Community Farmers In PH Tourist Siargao Island Successfully Inspired By The Police!

Lower image says, “Stories That Prove Filipino Police Are Heroes[1]” (from Newsgraph). That explains my choice of photograph to illustrate my story. The news comes from Down Under by Celeste Macintosh, “Police-Led Farming Program Becomes Covid Lifeline For An Island Voted ‘Best In The World[2]’” (13 February 2021, SBS Filipino).

Ms Celeste says:

After being recognized in 2019 by the readers of Conde Nast Travel as the “best island in the world,” Siargao Island drew even more tourists and surfing enthusiasts from around the world. As tourism picked up in (this) southern Philippines island, more farmers and (fishers) “abandoned their traditional livelihoods to earn fast cash from foreign tourists,” and petty crimes flourished in the key island municipality of General Luna.

Easy come, easy go. Farming is easy if you ask this farmer’s son who is also an Agriculturist, UP '65, but fast cash is more tempting by selling something, anything. Goodbye carabao, hello tourists! Hello petty crimes.

Fortunately for Siargao, a year before the island became the toast of tourists, says Ms Celeste, Police Captain Wise Vicente Panuelos “realized that despite the steady growth in local tourism over the years, residents were still struggling to make ends meet.” What did he do?

He investigated a new idea, connecting Food with Peace.

“In 2018, defying convention, he decided to train the police in community organizing and address local food insecurity in pursuit of peace and order.” He thought, “If people have hungry stomachs, they might have angry minds.” He was thinking of more crimes.

So, Chief Panuelos sought the assistance of community-conscious businesses and individuals and started “Hardin ng Pagbabago” (Garden of Change). This was community farming. Ms Celeste says, “The innovative program was quick to get local backing within its first year.” There were an initial 12 community farms in San Isidro.

There is a white stranger in this story. Ms Celeste says:

Siargao-based, ex-military Brett Johnson of the Australian Special Forces is one of the pioneer supporters of the (Garden of Change) program. Mr Johnson and Captain Panuelos met almost three years ago when Mr Johnson moved to the Philippines straight out of retirement from the military.

Different peoples and different perspectives, yet they blended. Mr Johnson said, ““I became good friends with him (Captain Panuelos), as my background and (his) being (Police Chief were) a good mix and we could understand each other and relate.” Law and Order of a different kind!

Mr Johnson came from a farming background in Western Australia where his family had grown wheat and raised sheep. “When Captain Panuelos decided that the program was ready for a full-scale approach, he asked Mr Johnson to be a sponsor, and he adopted 3 farms.” He was a farmer first, police next, farmer last.

Once a farmer, always a farmer. Apart from providing financial support for local farms; Mr Johnson also trained the farmers on soil rehabilitation, a Very Important Point (VIP) – I will write on this VIP another time.@517

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[1]https://www.newsgra.ph/1856/stories-that-prove-filipino-police-are-heroes/

[2]https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/police-led-farming-program-becomes-covid-lifeline-for-an-island-voted-best-in-the-world?fbclid=IwAR3gJ8VtErYpOsHo0keLXjGitrGBjlG_1FwF1DgBWUpaH0oUxFEZVfxuQgc

David Osborne’s “Brainstorming” Gives Way To Frank A Hilario’s “Brainscaping”

David Osborne invented brainstorming (Lila MacLellan, “The Man Who Gave Us Brainstorming Meetings Did His Best Thinking Alone[1],” 06 August 2019, Quartz At Work). Come to think of it, I do my best brainstorming thinking alone myself!

Not to rob the credit from Mr Osborne, I Frank A Hilario am right now announcing to the creative world that I have just reinvented Brainstorminginto Brainscaping, meaning you create your own intellectual landscapes when trying to come up with something else, or some things new, out of the chaos of materials you have gathered or thought of. Hence this new blog of mine:

Brainscapes (https://braincapes.blogspot.com).
(the landscape image[2] above is from Dryicons.com)

In thinking brainscape, think landscape. Landscape is: “all the visible features of an area of countryside or land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal” – Oxford Dictionary; “everything you can see when you look across an area of land, including hills, rivers, buildings, trees, and plants” – Collins Dictionary.

Now then, as a creative mind, your brainscape includes anything and everything you can think of in relation to what you are working on right now.

Brainstorming is very aptly named from 2 words: brain and storm. It’s always stormy weather. Whether you are alone brainstorming or with a group, the storm of thoughts come and they usually fight it out, or simply fade out, until a “bright idea” comes in and that’s it.

Brainscaping is calm; there is no storm at all. You first blankly look at the landscape of the idea or groups of ideas (look at the image again). We can say brainscaping is mapping out the territory with a shared feature, or related features.

Yes, I’m introducing brainscaping as a new way of thinking out new ideas, concepts, relations whatever. In brainstorming, you come out with a distinct if not superior idea or concept; in brainscaping, you come out first with distinct features that are tidied up with a single idea; or you come out first with a single idea that you can use to identify the features in the mental landscape that are connected by that singular idea.

The fact is I did not start with the concept of brainscaping first – I started with the idea of “The More The Merrier (TM²),” hence the title of the first essay in this blog: “01, The More The Merrier – 156 Lipa City Families Succeed With Community ‘Stables And Greens’ Gardens.” (Thus, this essay is not numbered TM² because it's not TM.) TM² is my newly discovered formula for writing a series of success stories of plurality of farmers, that is, successful groups – not successful individuals, which is the usual story in aggie magazines and newspapers. If you ask me, group success is social; singular success is anti-social.

Now, why am I writing this explanatory essay when I should have began this new series with it, with a title something like this: “01, The More The Merrier – Working With Ideas, How Plurality Leads To Singularity”? Yes, but that’s exactly how brainscaping works: It leads you forward, and backward: that's the part that's landscape.@517

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[1]https://qz.com/work/1675944/brainstormings-inventor-did-his-creative-thinking-alone/#:~:text=The%20thing%20is%2C%20brainstorming%20is,New%20York%20ad%20agency%20BBDO).

[2]https://dryicons.com/free-icons/landscape

01, The More The Merrier – 156 Lipa City Families Succeed With Community “Stables And Greens” Gardens

When families think big, think village, they can succeed where singular others fail. So we have this news from the Department of Agriculture (DA): “Lipa City Families Showcase Successful Community ‘Stables & Greens’ Gardens” dated 12 February 2021.

The complete name of the DA project is: “Stables & Greens: Agri-Livestock Integrated Support to Covid-19-Prone Areas” (ALIS-Covid Project). The aim of “Stables & Greens” is “to mitigate the effects of the pandemic by promoting agri-livestock household production for consumption and the use of various technologies for meat, egg, and vegetable production.” Actually gardens & farms.

Not just 1 family but we are talking here of 156 families in the village of San Benito in Lipa City, some 55 km away from Manila. Even as their Stables & Greens project started only last year, they have already completed 3 harvests from their 1,500 sqm community garden, or from only 15% of 1 ha.

I say: The many have succeeded with a few!

This is a collaborative project among the DA-Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)-International Training Center on Pig Husbandry (ITCPH), East-West Seed Company, and the Lipa City local government unit (LGU). Quintin Piol, Barangay Chair of San Benito, says the participating families “are very active in maintaining their garden with the help of the ITCPH and East-West Seed.” ITCPH is piggery, and East Weed is vegetables – the news release did not mention any livestock involved.

Actually, the DA project is aimed at assisting not only the village of San Benito but 5 other villages of Lipa City: Pinagtong-olan, Marawoy, Lodlod, Tambo, and Banaybanay. If those villages want the project to benefit them, they have to be very active as San Benito.

The DA is trying to help them – still they have to help themselves!

Mr Piol says the harvests go directly to the families’ dining tables, while they sell the rest to “earn extra income and contribute to the group’s revolving fund.”

“The group’s revolving fund” – That’s the (community) spirit!

The upper image shows Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, who is ex-officio DA Chief, visiting the project site in San Benito. He said the garden should be sustainable even after the project ends in 2022. That to me explains the raising of the group’s revolving fund. (Also from San Benito, the lower image[1] is from Agriculture.com.ph.)

Later, Mr Dar instructed the DA Regional Field Office in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal & Quezon) to introduce off-season planting of crops and other technologies to increase the yields and incomes of Calabarzon families. He said the target Stables & Greens communities should also be included in the “Food Basket for Metro Manila Project” by which provinces nearby would produce and supply raw materials for food for the national capital region.

The DA is all-out supporting farmers especially during this Covid19 lockdown. Lipa City Mayor Eric Africa thanked Mr Dar and the DA for the many projects such as animal dispersal, seed distribution, and farm-to-market roads, aimed at benefitting disadvantaged families. The DA at your service.@517

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[1]https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2020/09/13/stables-and-greens-gardens-bring-food-and-hope-to-communities-in-batangas/