RCEF For PH Agriculture: Farmers Not Yet Business-Aware. Scientists Not So Active. Extensionists Not So Alive!

From Facebook sharing by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar: “DA Yet To Obligate, Disburse 65% Of RCEF For This Year[1]” by Madelaine B Miraflor (27 June 2020, Manila Bulletin):

To obligate P15 billion:
67% (P10 billion) for Mechanization
20% (P03 billion) for Seed Distribution
13% (P02 billion) for Credit & Extension.

I look at the numbers as So Much Power Distributed.

Knowledge Is Power – Thomas Jefferson.
(icon from National MS[2]) 
More powers must be applied to ailing PH agriculture today – Frank A Hilario.

I refer to the (1) Power of Budget, (2) Power of Business, (3) Power of Science, and (4) Power of Knowledge Composed & Communicated. (business plan from PESTLE Analysis[3]). These powers are all necessary, to give overall PH Agriculture the requisite assistances that it needs to help bring Filipinos from the “New Normal” to the “New Prosperity.”

We are Witness to History in the Making – and the best thing is we have in Secretary William Dar the Best National Manager for PH Agriculture.

I am sure of that. I have known him for the last 13 years starting when he was on his 8th year as Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India. He was DG from January 2000 to December 2014, when he had to retire. 15 years as head of an international agency that covered/covers Asia and Africa – the Indians must have seen the high quality of Servant Leader that they had!

I knew all that because I was international consulting writer for ICRISAT from January 2007 to December 2014. As a work from home, WFH, consultant, I wrote and ICRISAT published 7 collections of my essays about its aims and accomplishments. ICRISAT's shining light was a 5-word beacon: “Science with a human face.” And so I am sure, while it has not been articulated yet, in advancing PH Agriculture, that will become:

Science with a Philippine face.
Science for all. Prosperity for all.

Nonetheless, our servant leader is not going to do it all for us! We are all in this together.

My first contribution. Differently and diffidently, I would obligate the P15 billion this way:
40% (P06 billion) for Mechanization
20% (P03 billion) for Seed Distribution
40% (P06 billion) for Credit & Extension.

I got P4 billion from Mechanization added to Credit & Extension – these 2 being most neglected until now.

One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and Four to go!

Super Budget: DA should have it.

Super Business: Make sure Landbank assists ably financially and teach Coops to teach Member Farmers to be mindful of Costs & Returns.

Super Science: Make sure our Research Managers & Researchers come up with more new and/or improved Aggie Science.

Super Knowledge: Make sure our Extensionists can compose & decompose Technologies and/or Systems for & bring to the attention of farmers the quickest & unobtrusive way: Digital.

"Together we act, win, heal and rise as one!" – William Dar@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/27/da-yet-to-obligate-disburse-65-of-rcef-for-this-year/

[2]https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Resources-Support/Library-Education-Programs/Knowledge-is-Power

[3]https://pestleanalysis.com/key-elements-of-business-plan/

Is The Coconut A Hard Nut To Crack? Only If Your Coconut Is!

This is a classic case of:
Damned if you do;
Damned if you don't!
And yes it involves our coconuts.

The text above those images in the Facebook sharing of Bahdor Shia said, clipped out but reproduced below (fresh coconut in box for export[1], image from Alibaba.com:

Meeting with the presidents of the coconut growers/planters of the different towns of Bohol together with the Regional Bohol-PCA. The coco farmers groups are “fully supportive of Sec William Dar’s coco initiatives but raise some concerns on the issue of re-planting of aromatic and high-yielding coco varieties. According to the farmers, for the issuance of cutting permit, an applicant has to pay a cutting fee and filing fee with the PCA, certification fee with the barangay and another fee for the chainsaw operator. Sans income because of low price of copra plus the high expenses for the permit to cut, there will be no chance for the coco farmers to revamp old trees and replant new coco varieties unless these concerns are addressed.

Bohol is the historic Philippine town where we find those Chocolate Hills – yes, from afar, they look like drops of chocolate good enough to eat. And there’s plenty of them.

Here, coconut farmers are talking with PCA officers about replanting old coconut groves with aromatic and high-yielding coconut varieties. Now:

The good news will come years later:
The bad news comes now.

Before you replant, you have to cut the old trunks – and before you can bring in any chainsaw operator, you have to pay the PCA 2 fees: for filing  and cutting. You also have to pay 2 fees with the barangay: certification and chainsaw operation.

The coconut groups are talking here of coconuts for export – aromatic and high-yielding. But the news did not say that they knew that it was part of “The 8 Paradigms” of Mr Dar’s “The New Thinking for Agriculture” for the Philippines (see #3):

(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.(8) Roadmap development.

The hesitance to pursue the rehabilitation of the old Bohol coconut groves seems to proceed mainly from the business cost – expenses for clearing and replanting; and opportunity cost – loss of income in the intervening years.

Ah, the

Twixt the optimist and the pessimist
The difference is droll;
The optimist sees the doughnut

Nobody seemed to have suggested it, but if I were there I would have recommended the formation of a coconut export cooperative, the

I am sure Mr Dar will listen to their plea – but first they have to come up with the plan!@

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https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/FRESH-COCONUT-FOR-EXPORT_50034843697.html

Bright, Beautiful, Beguiling Picture Of PH Agriculture

What you’re looking at is the Reality – as well as the Promise– of not only Soybean Farming in Surigao in far away Mindanao but also its radiating effects to all of Agriculture in the Philippines! Not obvious. You have to see more; you have to learn more. (PH map from Wikipedia[1])

An Agriculturist, a science writer of 35 years and a wide reader, I myself did not know that distant Surigao produces more than half of the country’s supply of soybeans, as according to Executive Director Abel James Monteagudo of Caraga Region (Region 13) of the Department of Agriculture, DA, news brought to us by Alexander Lopez (24 July 2020, “Mechanization Brings Hope To Surigao Sur Soybean Farmers[2],” PNA).

Mr Monteagudo said, “Even before, with their not so advanced way, soybean farmers in Surigao del Sur already (produced) more than half of the country’s soybean supply.” Months before mechanization, Surigao soybean farmers were already producing more than 50% of the PH supply – I can explain it not by size of science but by size of area: Small and Big. Surigao del Sur has been the biggest PH soybean producer since 1980.

Mr Monteagudo said the DA-supplied machinery “will help soybean farmers produce fast with less cost and better quality of farm produce.” With farm equipment, you cannot hurry up the natural growth of soybeans but can increase economies of scale and come up with cleaner beans with least sweat.

In November 2019, the Meme Agricultural Farmers Association, MAGFA, in the town of Tago, received from DA Caraga a water pump, multi-grain thresher (above image), and sorting machine. MAGFA Chair is Annabelle Dela Fuente Loja. The group has 100 hectares devoted to soybeans, which go into a wide variety of human and animal foods.

 “Soybean thrives well especially here in our Barangay, in Layug, Tago; that is why we have been planting this crop for a long time now,” Miss Loja said. With the new machinery from the DA, now they realize that their previous ways of farming were “time-consuming and labor-intensive.” With modern farming technology, you need less human effort and time spent and yet produce more with higher quality than before.

A member of MAGFA, Joel Ochavillo talked about another kind of assistance their group was getting from Caraga Region 3: Marketing. DA Caraga has helped MAGFA bring up the selling price of their soybean from P20/kilo to P30/kilo in Davao City. That is a wild, welcome jump of 50% in gross income! A doubling success.

Overall, MAGFA Chair Miss Loja says:

Many farmers are now encouraged to venture into soybean farming after seeing the improvements we experienced with the help of DA-13 through mechanization and support in marketing.

Mr Lopez’ good news on the “doubling success” of soybean farming of Surigao del Sur emphasizes the value of modern technology less and the value of marketing more. Unless marketing of produce is contracted for in advance, farmers always stand to lose in the wild universe of marketing.

Marvelous Science must be matched with Farmer-Friendly Marketing!@517

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

[2]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1109958

A PH Lady Journalist Is Worried About The Animal Manure That Goes Into The Organic Fertilizer

So, why do they use animal manure to make organic fertilizers anyway?

Rena S Hermoso writes “Knowing the Potentials, Limitations Of Organic Produce And Farming[1]” (17 July 2020, BusinessDiary), and it is not so-good-news:

(In) recent years, organic produce has been gaining attention from the public for its nutritional benefits and being pesticide-free. However, the public must also realize that organic produce has its own set of potentials and limitations. While it is important to know the benefits of consuming organic produce, it is also equally important to learn its limitations to mitigate its negative effects and maximize its full potential.

This is journalistic hyperbole that media serve and people relish so they buy more print copies or surf the media websites more often. That first paragraph makes it appear that organic farmers do not really care about their customers except as buyers of their farm produce.

This perceived threatto health of organic consumers is explained vaguelyby Miss Rena in these words:

Just like how pesticide residue or contamination threatens the safety of conventionally-grown produce, microbial contamination is the threat to the safety of organically-grown produce. This is primarily due to the use of animal manure in organic production. More so, microbial contamination cannot just occur during the production stage but in every stage of the handling-distribution chain.

That is based on prejudice and not from a scientific study. Miss Rena did not do enough background research on this one to know that organic fertilizers are produced only when the organic materials have decomposed completely – no plant or animal tiny or small are left alive in that converted mass, all microorganisms killed. So, how can the animal manure infect the farm produce growing in the field?  

But prejudice is prejudice, and I am sure there are thousands, nay millions who share the same view, if inarticulated.

Well, if I were a farmer and wanted to make honest money from organic produce, I will avoid animal manure altogether. I will grow my food crops with organic mulchinstead. That organic mulch I will build on top of my farm like this:

Farmers hate the weeds – I love them! I will use the rotavator to plow in the weeds and crop refuse (if any) so that in one passing, the soil has been cut to tiny pieces and the vegetation has been cut to tiny pieces – and mixed together in one smooth operation. As I continue to rotavate my field, I will continue to create that organic mulch over my field. When I am done rotavating, I already have my organic fertilizer – man-made, natural.

My organic mulch should be the answer to the challenge, articulated by Dormita R Del Carmen, a University Researcher of the Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center, PHTRC, of UP Los Baños, as reported by Miss Rena, for organic farmers to deliver “organically-grown fruits and vegetables that have same safety, quality and shelf-life as their conventionally-grown counterpart.”

Not all organically grown farm produce are equal!@

 

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[1]https://businessdiary.com.ph/15458/knowing-the-potentialslimitations-of-organic-produce-and-farming/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

PH DA Capturing The Full Power Of The Digital

In this Digital Age, the DA-ATI should be #1 in terms of knowledge dissemination. First Class.

The Agricultural Training Institute, ATI, is the official training arm of the Department of Agriculture, DA – as such, it should be on top of the situation. Well, with the video above, it’s trying to be. But there is more to be done. Like: Showing every single step. Putting in English captions.

Do you realize that prior knowledge is no longer a barrier to learning anything new?

That video is on practical ensiling with plastic bags, for the goats: using sugarcane tops, corn, sorghum, napier, even rice straw. Ensiling keeps the nutrients and moisture in the leaves while they await to be fed to livestock.

ATI’s digital work has just begun! In its own website, ATI says:

Extension services continue to evolve. With the challenges that extension workers and farmers face, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) continues to explore various strategies to improve its efforts as the extension and training arm of the Department of Agriculture.

The top image is my screen grab of a demonstration of “Paano Ang Wastong Paggawa Ng Silage?” (What Is The Right Way To Prepare Silage?) It is an evolution of ATI extension because it is virtual, not simply physical.

Now, there are 41 training centers all in all under ATI. If extension is to evolve, and it should, without planning and coordination, we are talking of 41 training centers producing similar video materials on a total of 41 Philippine crops (my low estimate)!

(1) Abaca
(2) Ampalaya
(3) Avocado
(4) Banana
(5) Beans
(6) Cabbage
(7) Calamansi
(8) Cassava
(9) Chico
(10) Coconut
(11) Coffee
(12) Corn 
(13) Cotton
(14) Cucumber
(15) Durian
(16) Eggplant
(17) Garlic
(18) Hot pepper
(19) Jackfruit
(20) Lanzones
(21) Mabolo
(22) Mango
(23) Mungo
(24) Okra
(25) Onion
(26) Papaya
(27) Passion fruit
(28) Peanut
(29)  Pineapple
(30) Pomelo
(31) Rambutan
(32) Rice
(33) Santol
(34) Squash
(35) Strawberry
(36) Sugarcane
(37) Sweet pepper
(38) Sweet potato
(39) Tobacco
(40) Tomato
(41) Watermelon

That’s only my fast list. (And I have not made mention of livestock.)

What am I driving at here? Already, the ATI has 41 crops to produce learning materials for.

Careful!

The ATI must first prepare separate working sets of the digital materials for the 41 crops. Initially, should the ATI distribute the work so that each of the centers works on only 1 crop? Maybe, but there should be Institute-wide final review and recommendation.

Here is the digital package I’m thinking for each crop:

I separate the Learning Materials (texts & still images) from the Training Materials (video accompanied by captions).

The Learning Materialsshould include the following (along with sources of data & information):

(1) Names of crop: common and local
(2) Economic importance:
(3) Uses

The Training Materialsshould show digitally everything from selecting planting materials to caring to harvesting to marketing. Every single step.

ATI, with the Digital Age, you never had it so good! Don’t make our farmers feel bad by failing them!@517

PH Land Reform – Mind Reform Instead Of Distribution Reform

Truth to tell, PH land reform has never progressed beyond distribution of land – because the distribution of land is bad! So now we have many landowners, but no successful farmer from among the beneficiaries.

Small isn’t beautiful!

Is it because of the stupidity of the authors of the law – or the stupidity of the farmers? Neither. It’s the stupidity of some economists!

In his column in BusinessWorld, Raul V Fabella says the Department of Finance, DoF, the National Economic and Development Authority. NEDA, and Congress are “contesting how best to reverse the economic free-fall wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.” The DoF and NEDA believe that the best way is to grant private corporate income tax deduction, to give them “breathing space,” from 30% down to 25%. Economists are hoping that the tax savings will be converted by private firms into new investments, new jobs. Similarly, Congress wants “to create jobs by ramping up state infrastructure spending.”

It happened in the USA, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President:

Realistically, it is only demand-pulling stimulus mounted by a welfare-oriented… government that could arrest the negative feedback loop of a free fall. Classical economists were horrified by Keynes’ heretical position: “What? Pay people to dig holes in the ground only to refill them?” asked detractors. President FD Roosevelt initiated the New Deal along Keynes’ lines: hired idled workers to replant America’s forests, build dams and roadways, and this pushed back the crisis.

Thank you President Roosevelt! After this pandemic, with our idled workers we will replant devastated Philippine forests, build dams and roadways.

But right now, I’m more interested in agriculture than infrastructure. I don’t know why but no economist, not even Mr Fabella, talks about economies of scale.

The main trouble with CARP farmers is that they do not consolidate their operations, so they do not enjoy economies of scale.

For farmers, land ownership gives you the false impression that you should be doing things on your own. They have to change their minds!

I don’t blame the farmers. I graduated from the UP College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, but I don’t remember a single lesson in farm consolidation to operate more efficiently with less cost per unit of work done.

No Sir, Mr Fabella, debt condonation will not result in renewed and better farming – CARP farmers know that they will always remain poor. You know why? When a farmer wants to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, he borrows money from a usurer. When harvest comes, he is forced to sell at the price that the merchant is offering, to pay off his debts.

Rather than debt condonation, I recommend that CARP farmers in a town be organized into a multi-purpose cooperative. The coop will then be the source of much cheaper loans, as well as the keeper of farm machines that everybody can use. The coop can ask financial and other assistances from the Department of Agriculture under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar.

Then I’m sure the CARP farmers will rise to the occasion after the pandemic!@517

 

Who Are The First Ones To Recommend Their Children To Not Become Farmers? Farmers!

This is the Philippines, ladies and gentlemen, farming country, and the male parent does notwant his son to become a farmer himself!

That is a major finding of UP Los Baños lady researcher Florencia G Palis in her study “Aging Filipino Rice Farmers and Their Aspirations for Their Children” (June 2020, Philippine Journal of Science, Science & Technology Information Institute).

Son of a farmer, that is notnews to me, but it’s still dismaying.

Miss Palis found the farmer fathers would rather have their children study and apply for jobs in the cities or work abroad. That was 65% of her respondents; only 35% wanted their children to be like them, farmers.

In her paper, Miss Palis said, as reported by Dhel Nazario, “Farmers Not Keen On Children Following In Their Footsteps – Study[1]” (23 July 2020, Manila Bulletin):

The risk associated with rice farming as a means of livelihood further discourages parent farmers to aspire for their children to be like them. The uncertaint(ies) in yield and income (are) real to them and they attribute (those) to unpredictable weather situations, unstable output price and input costs, and natural disasters like heavy rains, floods, and drought, including pest and disease infestations.

As a farmer’s son, and an Agriculturist, I can explain those uncertainties in yield and income.Most likely those farmers are still using their own varietal selections, so they cannot expect higher yields. Or when they transplant the rice seedlings, it’s helter-skelter – how do you expect good growth from the seedlings you did not value much by giving them improper distancing (should be 25 x 25 cm) and planting 2 or 3 seedlings per hill (should be only 1 single seedling per hill, following the technique called System of Rice Intensification, SRI)!

Aling Tasya said, “My waist and back are painful, especially during and after transplanting the rice seedlings. I need to bear these pains so that I can provide some food for my family.” Aling Tasya, if you did the SRI, you would have enjoyed your transplanting of rice! SRI would also double your yield, even treble it – ask your local farm technician about it!

Miss Palis also pointed out:

With high input costs, they are forced to borrow money from informal lenders who charge them high-interest rates, or traders who require them to sell their produce immediately at a low (price) after harvest.

Aling Tasya, what’s causing your poverty are those people taking advantage of people  when they need money!

Miss Palis says, “There is a need to pay attention to rural services for agricultural extension including hassle-free and practical mechanisms of providing capital to farmers.”

Don’t forget cooperatives!

Now, madam, if you have been browsing Facebook, during these months of lockdown, you will have known of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar’s “The New Thinking for Agriculture” – and the current national efforts, led by him, to help farmers financially and mechanically by providing farm machines.

These are the worst of times,
and these are the best of times!@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/23/farmers-not-keen-on-children-following-in-their-footsteps-study/?fbclid=IwAR0BvetY0buXJzzglTxT3tAmdVHRuSu4CeP1JxRAdvNhTC0R5tRuUXN1oA4

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/