05 September 2019

Rice Farming Is A Way Of Life? It Should Be A Way Of Hope!


Last night, someone who calls himself "Rice Farmer" emailed me a message all of 97 words excluding the greeting "Sir" – my response was this: 

(Kaibigan), hindi ka nagbabasa! Facebook o dyaryo. Puro ka negative. I forgive you!
(Friend, you have not been reading! Facebook or newspapers. You are all negative. I forgive you!)

Now here are the sentences (with his errors) Mr Rice Farmer sent me followed by my comments.

Napakagaling ng ating DA Secretary. Walang siyang pakialam and pagbagsak ng presyo ng palay 7-11 Pesos lagn....Bravo Mr DA Secreatry.

(Sarcastic: Our DA Secretary is very good. He cares nothing about the falling prices of palay, 7-11 pesos only. Bravo, Mr DA Secretary.)

Masunurin sa Presidente... utos pababain ang presyo ng palay kahit na maghikahos ang mga Rice Farmers' Ang galing ng solusyon. Pinautang ng 15 libong piso na walang interes.

(He is a loyal follower of the President… ordered him to bring down the price of palay to the point that rice farmers become paupers! The solution is brilliant. Allowed to loan out 15 thousand pesos without interest.)

I wonder if that is the kind of thinking with many of our farmers today?! Aside from the factual errors, there is the perceptual one: President ordered Secretary to bring down the price of rice!

Alam ba niya na pinayayaman nila ni Presidente ang mga palay buyers at middleman and Rice importers.

(Does he know that he and the President are enriching the palay buyers and middlemen and rice importers?)

Noong pinopost mo na ang kailangan ay si Dar sa DA naniwala ako. Ngayon alam ko na marunong siya sa technology pero wala siyang awa sa mga magsasaka,. Dapat mag-resign na siya.

(When you were posting that the DA needed William Dar, I believed you. Now I know, he is knowledgeable in technology but he has no mercy for the farmers. He should now resign!)

My response here:

Never mind wrong spellings and attribution – "DA Secretary" instead of "Agriculture Secretary" – but I must note that:

He is angry!

Sir, anger will get you nowhere. I appreciate that you have been reading my essays in my blog, Ani Kitá (Slogan: "We harvest together, or scatter separately."). It turns out you have been reading your thoughts into mine!

Almost 4 months ago, on 19 April 2019, I blogged, "PH Will Never Rise From Rice Alone – William Dar" (page 23 of my challenging yet creative ebook, Paradigms Lost, Paradigms Regained, a free copy of which you can email me for, frankahilario@gmail.com). I say now to Mr Rice Farmer, borrowing from the Bible in which I believe: "No man can live on rice alone!"

I have just googled for (exactly as you see below but not italicized)
rice farming "way of life"
and I got 18.3 million results. That is to say, millions too many believe that farming is a way of life.

I say: No! It should be a way of hope!

And that is why we should listen sensibly to William Dar, PH Secretary of Agriculture!@517

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