Cassava, Manioc, Yuca – Now, The Philippines Has An Export Winner!

Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie says, "The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program (RCEP) Is In High Gear" (31 October 2019, "The 'New Thinking' To Expand Agri Exports" 2nd Of 2 Parts, manilatimes.net); he then asks, "What type of future rice farmers could expect now?" meaning with the new Department of Agriculture, DA, under his headship. He answers his own question (my enumeration):

(1)   Planting Rice – one crop, one promise. For those farmers insisting on growing rice and rice alone, the current production cost of palay (unmilled rice) pegged at P12.72/kg, could be reduced to as much as P6/kg. PH rice will then be competitive with Thailand's P8/kg and Vietnam's P6/kg.

(2)   Planting Crops Other Than Rice – many crops, much promise. For farmers who are after Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita (heaps of harvests and heaps of income, my translation), they are "better off planting other crops." That is why, Manong Willie says, "I even made a declaration in my first day as Agriculture Secretary that a program to diversify crop production would be one of the DA's priorities." (above image is from "Preserving Diversity In My Food Garden," eatresponsibly.eu)

In the DA under Manong Willie, he says, "Crop diversification… forms part of the 'New Thinking for Agriculture,'" which I know is composed of 8 paradigms or templates: (1) Modernization of agriculture, (2) Industrialization of agriculture, (3) Promotion of exports, (4) Farm consolidation, (5) Roadmap development, (6) Infrastructure development, (7) Higher budget and investments for agriculture, and (8) Legislative support.

"Simply put it, it would be impossible to increase Philippine agricultural exports without modernizing and industrializing the agriculture sector," Manong Willie says. Unfortunately, he says, about 80% of our farmlands is devoted to only 3 crops: rice, corn and coconut. "There are other crops that are more profitable to cultivate, and have more export potential in raw or processed form."

PH Agriculture has to think of crop diversification, plural; it has to think of exports, plural!

We need to grow more vegetables, he says, more cacao, cashew, cassava, coffee, rubber, tropical fruits, among others. And export them!

He takes special note of cassava:

One particular crop that should interest more farmers is cassava, which currently has wide food processing applications in the form of starch. And with the rise in urban populations worldwide, the production of processed foods is expected to increase, with cassava starch being one of the main inputs.

Cassava is kamoteng kahoy, PH's sweet potato tree. I, writer and agriculturist, take particular interest in this crop because I know that it is one of the easiest to grow. Before and after high school, for years I helped my father in cultivating his bangkag (upland, dry farm) in the village of Sanchez in Asingan, Pangasinan – so I know that if you simply cut the cassava stalk to pieces, and then itugkelmo laeng maysa ken maysa – stick into the dry soil piece by piece like that – you have an excellent crop.

Cassava is a lazy man's crop that can make him rich, just wait and see!@517 

I'd Rather Have One Blossom Now, Than A Truckload When I'm Dead!

Yesterday, Wednesday, was special, as it was the birthday of my wife Ampy, 74. Early this morning, at about 3AM, she has this note for me, with the instruction to write about:

Sabi ni Father Monching, "para wala kayong (Father Monching says, so you will have no) REGRETS LATER, SHOW YOUR LOVE to your parents and loved ones NOW" (and that will include giving flowers while they can still see, smell and appreciate and enjoy them).

When Fr Monching said that, it was Mother's Day perhaps in 1992. Fr Monching Carillo was the second Parish priest of San Antonio De Padua, Los Baños, Laguna. He was beloved of maybe all who appreciated the gospel interlaced with good humor in his homilies based on what he had observed, including basketball games, movies and TV shows. When he said, "So you will have no regrets later, show your love to your parents and loved ones now," whether it was personal or second-hand experience, it was sincere nevertheless.

Ampy's note says:

Please search for the text and author of "Give The Flowers Now" used by Dr Tony Oposa Sr as title for his book.

Checking my email, the correct book title is "Give Me The Flowers… Now!" It was 14 years ago when Dr Oposa wrote his autobiography, quoting this poem:

Bring Me All Your Flowers Now

I would rather have a single rose
From the garden of a friend,
Than have the choicest flowers,
When my stay on Earth must end.

I would rather have the kindest words,
Which may now be said to me,
Than flattered when my heart is still –
And this life has ceased to be.

I would rather have a loving smile
From the friends I know are true,
Than tears shed 'round my casket,
When this world I've bade adieu!

Bring me all your flowers today
Whether pink, or white, or red.
I'd rather have one blossom now
THAN A TRUCKLOAD WHEN I'M DEAD!

RD RICHARDS

As quoted by Abigail Van Buren in Chicago Tribune, 08 January 1995. She says she published that poem "years ago" (I can't find it).

Today, I would rather have a single rose.
Today, I would rather have the kindest words.
Today, I would rather have a loving smile.
Today, bring me all your flowers!

How does Nike put it again? JUST DO IT! Ampy says: DO IT NOW!

Yes, sometime in mid-2005, I gained the friendship of Manila wonder surgeon Dr Antonio C Oposa Sr, who published that year his intellectual and entertaining autobiography titled Give Me The Flowers … Now! I loved reading that book, and I suggested to him in 2006 to write a sequel, and he said he was thinking of the title Give The Flowers Again!

I do not know if he began it; I know he did not finish it, as he died 26 December 2016. Long before that, in blogging, I had been writing positively about him again and again.

So, I did give him the flowers again and again!@517

Choose Your Catholic Saint To Celebrate Halloween – Make Mine The Little Flower!

Why should Catholics celebrate Halloween in the evening of the 31st of October? To signify Good triumphing over Evil. You did not know? Life triumphing over Death.

I saw Lina Concepcion Luna Ilag's Facebook sharing of an image from Catholics@Work that said, "Your children don't deserve to look like these. They are not demons, monsters, or evil spirits." (They wore ugly masks.)

Frank A Hilario: Did you know that Halloween is Catholic?

Lina Concepcion Luna Ilag: Yup! It's Catholic. But not to go around as ghosts, demons, monsters!

Frank A Hilario: Why not? To remind us that there are ghosts, demons, monsters in real life?!

After the above exchange, I decided to google for more information. And now I have changed my mind about celebrating Halloween with children wearing masks of ghosts, monsters, and devils!

Facebook sharing by Marian Pulgo on 29 October 2019 (I have translated freely from Tagalog): Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on the Laity, reminds us that it is not a religious tradition for Filipinos to celebrate "Halloween" or "Trick or Treat." He said, "We are glorifying what is ugly, what is evil, what is bad." To him, Halloween is a Blessed Evening and meant to celebrate the saints and not those who frighten us. "In many of our parishes," he said, "instead of that, they have the parade of the saints, showing many saints, many who are good. They should be the ones we are celebrating."

Yes, Father!

Michelle Arnold says (01 September 2012, "Why Catholics Should Embrace Halloween," Catholic Answers, catholic.com):

Halloween, the Evening of All Hallows, was once a time for Christians to mock the devil by reveling in the triumph of Jesus Christ over evil and death (History changed so) that sound you now hear every October 31 is the devil mocking us.

Miss Michelle says, "It can be difficult for Christians to appreciate that there is spiritual value in such a mockery of evil – or even that it is mockery of evil and not participation in it."

"Halloween is a holiday Catholics should embrace in its original form," which is? "To honor its saints." All Saints Day. "The primary focus of this time of the year is the saints, the heroes of the Christian Faith who strove for virtue, overcame vice, and triumphed in Christ."

The usual Catholic solution to The Problem of Halloween is to organize saints' day celebrations on October 31 in anticipation of the solemnity of All Saints on the following day. Children are redirected from dressing up in "scary" costumes – devils, ghosts, and skeletons – to dressing as a favorite saint.

Above image is titled "When The Saints Go Marching In" (Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org). So? Choose your saint and go marching into somebody's Halloween Party!

My favorite Saint is St Therese of Lisieux, the little one who said, "The smallest act of love is more… than every other work put together." In attending a Catholic Halloween Party, I will bring a few little red roses – signifying little acts of love!@517

New PH DA – Turning Many A Crisis Into Many An Opportunity

The image above that I copied from Shutterstock has the title: "Turn crisis into opportunity. The umbrella is receiving rain" (shutterstock.com). A paradigm shift: Instead of rejecting rain, we catch and find good uses for it!

On Tuesday, 28 October 2019, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie spoke at the "Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2019" held at the Asian Development Bank, ADB, Headquarters in Mandaluyong City. Thanking the ADB "on behalf of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the Filipino people," he said, "the focus of this workshop group is to address the challenges that spring from the fragmentation of farmlands."

Manong Willie is thinking of economy of scale in agriculture, where cost per unit of output (P/kilo of rice produced) decreases with increasing scale of production (wider area where rice is grown/farmer). "The country's farmlands have been divided into miniscule sizes, currently averaging less than 1.7 hectares," he says;

Thus, there is an urgency to elevate the efficiency of our farmers, especially on how they adopt modern farm technologies. And this requires farm consolidation.

Manong Willie explains about that last sentence: "This will promote consolidation of production, without necessarily consolidating ownership, to enable efficient use of farm technologies and machineries."

I, writer, note that farm consolidation in one manner or another is only one of the myriad of opportunities presenting itself during this PH crisis in agriculture. During the ADB Forum, Manong Willie did mention what he calls The Eight Paradigms for the new PH Agriculture to grow from crises to opportunities:

(1)      Modernization of agriculture

(2)      Industrialization of agriculture

(3)      Promotion of exports

(4)      Farm consolidation

(5)      Roadmap development

(6)      Infrastructure development

(7)      Higher budget and investments for agriculture, and

(8)      Legislative support.

The more I look at each of the 8 paradigms, or policies, the more I see them as sources of inexhaustible opportunities for development inclusive of the poor farmers & fishers and their families.

With those 8 literally, sky is the limit – your imagination is the sky! Shall I count those opportunities now?

Here now are opportunities to insist that farmers must modernize their farming!

Here now are opportunities to convince the public and private sectors that PH Agriculture must industrialize.

Here now are opportunities for the development of products and promotion for their exports.

Here now are opportunities to insist on farm consolidation, although not necessarily ownership of lands.

Here now is the opportunity to draw a National Roadmap for agriculture and Regional Roadmaps as well based on the National.

Here now are opportunities for infrastructure development everywhere.

Here now are opportunities to request for higher budget and investments for agriculture. (At this juncture, we Filipinos hereby challenge the ADB with its headquarters in Metro Manila to venture into such higher and higher investments itself in the Philippines!)

Here now are opportunities to request legislative support for supportive policies as well as funds.

Look at the above Shutterstock image again – We are now looking at the PH Agriculture umbrella upturned to capture the pouring of the rainwater of opportunities!@517

SEARCA – How Is It Investing In Graduate Study & Research In Agriculture?

We have a new Director of the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture, SEARCA: Glenn B Gregorio, TOYM awardee, NAST Academician and one of the world's top breeders in rice and corn. Image shows, left to right: Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, Director of SEARCA Secretariat; UPLB Chancellor Fernando Sanchez Jr; Education Secretary Leonor M Briones handing out the "scepter" to the honoree; his wife Myla Beatriz, and the 6 Gregorio children, 1 boy. Our honoree is both productive in research and real life!

I was invited to the investiture, which happened yesterday, Monday, 28 October 2019, at the SEARCA Umali Auditorium, with country members/representatives of the SEARCA Governing Board in attendance. Mr Gregorio is the 11th SEARCA Director, and he talked of the 11th Five-Year Plan.

The new SEARCA Director said:

The key to securing the future of SEARCA is inclusive innovation and interconnectivity, that is – Academe-Industry-Government Interconnectivity towards an Innovation-centered, Partnership-driven, and Infrastructure-based SEARCA.

I love that!

Note that in the full name of the Southeast Asian center, there are these words:

Graduate Study and Research.

Before this, I was asked to look into the draft of a book on sustainable development and the twice-yearly Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, AJAD, that SEARCA has been publishing for 16 years.

That book would be welcome to both the academic and research worlds. That journal is impressive. The last issue, up-to-date, is June 2019, a thick one, 150 pages. As an Editor in Chief of 44 years experience in agriculture and forestry public and private, I can see that the AJAD is of high quality – but not yet Excellent.

Now then, as far as I know, and I have been going in and out of the Los Baños Science Community in the last 50 years, SEARCA has not harnessed the intellectual power of the findings of its own graduate students in their theses and dissertations, as well as SEARCA results of research. That field is where I can contribute directly and much.

You see, I can say I have been Editor in Chief all my life, since 1975, when I founded and edited-in-chief the Forest Research Institute, FORI, monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat. After FORI, I never left the editing world, even graduating into the digital universe on my own.

A one-man digital work that I am very proud of is to have been Editor in Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, PJCS, the quarterly journal of the Crop Science Society of the Philippines, CSSP. I made the PJCS reach world-class or achieve ISI status where all previous editors in the last 25 years failed.

For SEARCA and all those graduate studies and researches, I am thinking of building a digital library accessible to anyone anytime anywhere, where the bits and sets of knowledge gained are presented in context, as options for decision. There is no such type of digital library in the world today. Right: Information innovation-centered, partnership-driven, and infrastructure-based SEARCA!@517

The Prince Of P's – William Dar

Above image, in Batangas City 28 October 2019, an Agr-Business Summit was carried out by Pump-Pinasand Batangas Province under Governor Dodo Mandanas, front row, white hair & red shirt; Manong Willie is the man in the middle to the right of Mandanas. 

Partners. Sorry, as with other groups, in its own website, Pump-Pinas mixes Vision with Mission! (pump-pinas.com). Not with Manong Willie who knows that Vision is what you're dreaming of; Mission is your Roadmap to your Vision; and Strategy is how to carry out your Mission.

When he was Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, ICRISAT's Vision was Poverty Emancipation; its Mission was Partnerships, and its Strategy was Inclusive Market-Oriented Development. "We are all in this together, towards a better society; we are going there using science that is good for the people and the environment." From Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org):

An important development in this (ICRISAT) period was the formation of a wide range of partnerships with non-corporate as well as corporate private sector in India.

The 2020 Vision of PH Agriculture for farmers under Manong Willie is Masaganang Ani, Malaki ang Kita (plenteous harvest, plentiful income – my translation). Beyond rice, this is how I see it:

Manong Willie for all Filipino farmers:
Vision: Productivity & Prosperity.
Mission: Partnerships.
Strategy: Inclusive development.

That is why I call him The Prince of P's.

When you are an active partner, you are included as a recipient of the fruits of development. As active partners, you are truly in a win-win situation all the time.

Whereas previous PH Secretaries of Agriculture had their own areas of focus – on commodity (banana for Senen Bacani, and rice for Roberto S Sebastian, Leonardo Montemayor, Proceso Alcala and Manny Piñol, the last 2 on rice self-sufficiency); marketing (Luis P Lorenzo Jr); and differently, Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization for Edgardo Angara.

William Dar/Manong Willie is, I see it now, The Prince of P's –
Partnerships for Productivity & Prosperity in PH Agriculture.

This is a partnership between the Public and Private Sectors – and the partners are the peasants, public officials, private business owners, private groups, philanthropists. Not necessarily in that order. In fact, there is no order to partnership, because all partners have to be able to work together simultaneously, because the total relationship is holistic:

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

He is the 45th Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines, appointed to the position by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Monday, 05 August 2019. He had been Secretary of Agriculture under President Joseph "Erap" Estrada from 1998 to 1999, prior to his appointment as DG of ICRISAT. Under him, Agriculture grew by 9.6%, the highest in PH history!

From Manong Willie (19 August 2019, PIA, pia.gov.ph):

Upon my assumption as Acting Secretary of Agriculture, we conducted a series of meetings with the private sector, particularly the leaders of various agribusiness industries, engaging them once again as our major partners in modernizing and industrializing Philippine agriculture.

To the partners, to make much of time!@517

University of the Philippines: 111 Years Of Honor & Excellence – What About Relevance?

111 years old? Not UP Diliman, no. In fact, it was the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture, UPCA, my alma mater, that was the very first college unit created for the UP System. On 06 March 1909, the UP Board of Regents created UPCA, now UP Los Baños. In activism during the American war in Vietnam, late 1960s, UP Diliman was first, UP Los Baños next. How do I know? I wrote and the Philippines Free Press published my poem about the My Lai Massacre.

Relevance is something else. To the Facebook sharing of "111 Years Of Honor And Excellence," my comment was: "How about relevance?" To which Serge Francisco replied, "You judge, Frank. You're more in a position to do so considering you are still in the community."

Actually, I have been in and out of the Los Baños Science Community since I came in as First Year student for a BSA major in Ag Education in 1969, or 50 years ago. So I can say I have had some ringside and amphitheater views of what have been happening at UP Los Baños.

Yes, Honor and Excellence cannot be denied.
But nobody in the entire UP System can claim about Relevance.

It's like this. I will talk about research & development, R&D, because that's where I have always been involved since 1975 as a writer, editor, and since 1997 as journal and book desktop publisher (digital).

If you disseminate knowledge, you are relevant. From 1975 to 1981, I was the Chief Information Officer of the Forest Research Institute, FORI. Non-UP. Remember, those were typewriter days. I was founder and Editor in Chief of the 3 FORI publications: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat. Everything by typewriter, but as a tireless turtle, I never missed a deadline!

In sharp contrast, today, via typewriter or computer, none of the universities of the UP System has proven to be of relevance when it comes to dissemination of knowledge gathered via its many researches. Hardly! Even in the publication of technical journals, which are dedicated only to scientists, the UP System is a laggard! In this Digital Age, why is UP a self-satisfied rabbit in information, communication and extension?

Because UP is spending too much time in activism!

Listen, UP System:Repay the Filipino people by being relevant to their lives. And the best thing you can do – forget your activism for a while – is to bring the fruits of your researches, including bachelor and masteral theses and doctoral dissertations, to the people, in 3 stages:

1st stage – publish more technical journals.
2nd stage – publish many more popular articles.
3rd stage – upload & maintain a knowledge options bank.

I differentiate the popular knowledge bank (KnowBank) from my options for knowledge bank (OK Bank). What is in your KnowBank are instructions, no more, no less – the user strictly follows, no choosing!

Differently, my OK Bank presents options for action – you decide what to do. Yes, I know you are intelligent!@517

When Raymund Mirabueno Abandoned His Coffee Farm, It Was The Best Thing That Ever Happened To It!

This is my story of Raymund Mirabueno and his coffee farm in Mantibugao, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon in Southern Philippines that even he does not know! No, nobody else knows.

Marian San Pedro says, "Coffee Farmer's 'Big Mistake' Leads To International Success" (25 October 2019, F&B Report, fnbreport.ph). Mr Mirabueno does not know that when he planted those 700 Robusta coffee trees in their Mantibugao farm in Bukidnon and abandoned it 4 years later, that was the one that led to international success.

In the above image (from Redjie Melvic M Cawis' article "Coffee Heritage Project Plants 3,000 Coffee Trees In Sagada," 24 June 2019, Philippine Information Agency, pia.gov.ph), the gentlemen have cleared an area to plant their coffee – this is "clean culture" that we studied at the University of the Philippines' College of Agriculture in the early 1960s. Later, I learned on my own that this was wrong – this dries up the soil. If you planted 700 coffee seedlings like Mr Mirabueno did, that is a lot of watering to do! A good reason to abandon the project.

You need nurse trees. Nonito M Tamayo of the Forest Management Bureau, FMB, says, "NGP Nurseries: Not A Waste Of Money," 27 June 2017, opinion.inquirer.net):

There are many heavily denuded areas that have to be planted with fast-growing exotic species to serve as nurse trees before the agroforestry species are planted for their greater survivability.

Note: Nurse trees need to be planted and grown before you plant and grow your wanted species, in this case coffee.

RJ Santiago-García says "Nurse trees are adult plants that are frequently used to enhance seedling establishment by mitigating extreme environmental factors" (01 December 2008, "The Role of Nurse Trees in Mitigating Fire Effects on Tropical Dry Forest Restoration: A Case Study," BioOne, bioone.org). If Mr Mirabueno knew about nurse trees, this would not have happened, as he puts it:

The changing climate conditions and patterns ruin your trees. The droughts almost shave them off their leaves that dry out, the strong rains and winds break them sometimes, and the fluctuations in weather bring higher risk for pests and disease.

That's exactly why they are called nurse trees – they will take care of your prized plants so that neither the soil nor the leaves will dry out, and strong rains and winds cannot break them.  Actually, the nurse trees will keep your prized plants healthy so that they themselves can withstand any attack of pest or disease.

Again, what was the best thing that ever happened to Mr Mirabueno's coffee farm? He abandoned it! Clean culture is bad; unclean culture is good for growing coffee, or any other horticultural crop that needs shade trees, like cacao.

Abandoned, the farm in Mantibugao, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon grew richer – in the soil and in the plant population, including the coffee trees.

Miss Marian reports that last 21 October, Mirabueno Coffee won the Gourmet award at the 5th "Locally Roasted Coffees” International Contest in Paris. Remember: Good soil makes good coffee!@517

Margaux Dragonessa & Her Faux Pas On The Asian Swine Fever – Good Girl Behaving Badly

On Facebook, radio reporter Margaux Dragonessa is scaring people from eating pork!

She is not frightening Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie (2nd from left) and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno (3rd from left) – they are all smiles and happy to be served pork no matter the Asian swine fever, ASF, scare. She is not worrying me either. (image from Facebook sharing of Manong Willie)

Here comes Miss Margaux on Facebook:

All we are saying is PROTECT, PROTECT, PROTECT.

✅Is it true that Swine flu viruses do not usually infect humans?
Answer: Yes
DISCLAIMER:
🛑 but rare human infections have occurred.

The point is we don’t want to put our FAMILY and loved (ones) in danger. There is nothing wrong giving them proper and healthier option on food. If you are not affected and scared then it’s up to you ... this is just a friendly reminders thanks. 

She is young, but her attitude towards journalism is old: "I want a scoop. I want to tell people what they do not know, what other reporters have not reported." One-upmanship journalism, good for the Ego, not the Eco.

She is wrong about the African swine fever virus!

She is also wrong about "reminders" – should be singular. When you are young and brash, you commit mistakes, inevitably.

She gives a link to her source, saying "Pls read and click the link if you think this is baseless and nonsense:" I thought so. I did not click the link; instead I used my head and googled for (including the double quotes):

"Asian swine fever"
"swine flu"

Note the difference in the entries: swine fever and swine flu. Let me now quote from the experts, because neither Miss Margaux nor I am an expert. Here is what the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom says (daera-ni.gov.uk):

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease of pigs. In its acute form, the disease generally results in high mortality. ASF is a different disease (from) swine flu. The (ASF) virus does not affect people and there is no impact on human health.

You got that, Miss Margaux?! One, the African swine fever, ASF, virus is different from the swine flu, SF, virus. The ASF virus "does not affect people and there is noimpact on health."

Miss Margaux, please always be careful with your sources. Otherwise, you're a bad girl!

Miss Margaux, your faux pas is not simple:

It is a gross error, and it badly affects the entire swine industry in the Philippines, and the people waiting for their lechons this Christmas!

No thanks to you, Miss Margaux. When you do your journalism, please think of what I have just invented (see my essay of 24 October 2019, "Journationalism Invented – Where You Don't Always See What You're Getting Into Until You Get There!" iVirtual Guru, ivirtualguru.blogspot.com). Instead of the bad news, Miss Margaux, go look for the good news! Good for your listeners – good for you in the very first place!@517

Whatever Happened To Rice-Based Farming Systems – Wake Up, PhilRice!

The Philippine Rice Research Institute, PhilRice, had a very good thing coming with its Palayamananinitiative in the early 2000s – and then no more. Palayamanan, palay (rice) + kayamanan (wealth); Palayamanan was rice-based farming systems, plural, a brilliant idea whose time never came!

What happened? Time to find out, especially that new Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has called for multiple sources of income for each farmer. In a press conference after he attended the "18th National Vegetable Congress" on Tuesday, 08 October 2019, hosted by Albay Province, Mar Serrano says, "DA Chief Urges Farmers To Diversify Farming Practice" (09 October 2019, PNA, pna.gov.ph): Manong Willie said, "We need to formulate a crop diversification program to (improve) farmers' income." We are "a rice-centric agricultural country, but we can never just live with rice alone; we need to diversify Philippine agriculture."

Palayamanan was a diversification formula – although no one talked about it like that. I was the Editor in Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, PJCS, when the paper titled "Palayamanan: A Rice-Based Farming Systems Model For Small-Scale Farmers" was submitted by RG Corales, LM Juliano, AOV Capistrano, HS Tobias, NV Dasalla, SD Cañete, MC Casimero & LS Sebastian and this was published in the 2004 PJCS issue, Vol 29 No 1, pages 21-27. From the Abstract:

The Palayamanan model of diversified integrated rice-based farming system developed and established by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is composed of synergistically compatible farming ventures such as rice, onion, poultry, livestock, and aquaculture. The model farm has been established in six state colleges and universities and a research center in the country. The system employs practical, cost-saving and yield-enhancing management practices. The system includes microbial technology as an added dimension of the management practices to facilitate farm operations, improve the resource base and reduce overall operational costs… A one-hectare diversified farm can sustain most of the daily food requirements, incidental expenses from fast-growing crops, and provide considerable income from animals, fish, and seasonal field crops. Maximum utilization of on-farm biomass residues for nutrient sources and animal feeds using microbial technology improves the efficiency of the system and also reduces the operating expenses. Three workers or a family of six members can operate the farm.

Note: "diversified integrated rice-based farming system… composed of synergistically compatible farming ventures such as rice, onion, poultry, livestock and aquaculture." The above image is close to this description: we have durian, coconut, cacao, rice, taro and fish – excellent!

Where is excellence now?

"The model farm has been established in six state colleges and universities and a research center in the country." And I, wide reader and Facebook hound, have never heard of them again!

"A one-hectare diversified farm can sustain most of the daily food requirements, incidental expenses from fast-growing crops, and provide considerable income from animals, fish, and seasonal field crops." Such promise – where did all that go!?

"Three workers or a family of six members can operate the farm." Family-oriented farm: what else did PhilRice want?

Time for PhilRice to rise up!@517

At The 48th Gawad Saka, Secretary William Dar Lectured The PH Farmer Leaders – And They Didn't Realize It!

Yes, the occasion on Tuesday, 22 October 2019, was for the holding of the awarding ceremonies for "Gawad Saka" – Aggie Awards, my translation – for farmers and fishers who have shown outstanding performances in their fields. The one above shows a P200K check for award-winning fisher Vicente B Lugagay of Santiago City.

The lecture? Not scheduled but necessary! Because the farmer leaders of all kinds have kept complaining of the rice crisis and what have been happening to the farmers – as if the Department of Agriculture, DA, under new Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, has done nothing and continue to do nothing about the unwelcome situation. These farmer leaders can see a problem for every solution!

I have been following up the happenings in and out of the DA, and so I know all about what Manong Willie calls the New Thinking for Agriculture. And those farmer leaders either don't know, or don't care.

So, what did Manong Willie do during the 48th Gawad Saka? He lectured them on what the new DA is doing! He said:

Today, as we honor the men and women who tirelessly struggle to grow, raise and nurture the food that we need, we at the Department of Agriculture therefore find it necessary to renew our commitment to championing their causes and advancing their welfare, even as we vigorously pursue the revival of the farm and fishery sector, which had erratically grown in the past five years.

While the Gawad Saka winners had performed extraordinarily in their fields, PH Agriculture "had erratically grown in the past five years." Of course, we could do much better than that. Manong Willie told his Gawad Saka audience, which included the farmer leaders:

Target: Grow agriculture at 2% by 2020, 2.5% by 2021, and 4% by 2022.

Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita –high harvests and high incomes – these are the Twin Targets of the New DA from Day 1 (Monday, 05 August 2019). And these can be achieved, Manong Willie was saying, if we follow the new thinking for agriculture and implement an overall strategy that comprises the following 8 paradigms – patterns or models – from which initiatives can be drawn for the betterment of PH Agriculture:

(1) Modernization of agriculture;
(2) Industrialization of agriculture;
(3) Promotion of exports;
(4) Farm consolidation;
(5) Infrastructure development;
(6) Roadmap development;
(7) Higher budget and investments for agriculture; and
(8) Legislative support.

Can we choose which single paradigm to pursue vigorously? Yes, Manong Willie would tell you, but the other 7 must be pursued nevertheless – the 8 make up one indivisible national development program.

So, farmer leaders, stop complaining about what is happening in PH Agriculture and start fulfilling your role in actively helping advance any or all of the 8 paradigms – you will be glad you did!

Act as true leaders of your farmer groups and truly care for their prosperity and happiness – not simply experts in bellyaching as you have been showing publicly and in media all these years!@517