The ATI Goes After “Smartphones” – I Go After “SmartFarmers”

Is this good news coming from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)? “Smartphones, Social Media Become Vital Tools For Farmers Under This Digital Farming Course[1]” (Betheena Unite, 30 July 2021, MB.com.ph):

Farmers Go Digital – A farmer-youth tandem completes the hands-on activity on smartphone familiarization under the Digital Farmers Program (DFP) training conducted by Agricultural Training Institute Region 2. 
(above image from ATI Region 2)

What the ATI is trying is “to build a pool of digitally-adept farmers and agriculturally-involved youth nationwide.” Farmers better at working their smartphones.

The next stage of the ATI training is the DFP to be conducted this August:

The DFP 102 this August will center on in-depth agriculture applications and the utilization of social media and smartphones to improve both farming efficiency and productivity.

After this course, participants should be able to identify and use agri-related applications from both government and private organizations, as well as social media platforms that will enhance their practices.

I can see that all that is for farmers to be good at social media – but not to be good farmers! For the simple reason that social media does not yet present a single Digital Library of Smart Farming.

“Data literacy leads to business results” says the above image quote I found on Facebook (Udemy Business); if that is correct, then it is correct to say, thinking about agriculture, “Science literacy leads to better farming results.”

So we need first to build a science-&-knowledge-filled library of agriculture to help people learn to become better farmers.

Not a single one of the websites of ATI, DA, IRRI, and PhilRice gives you options if you asked for them. For instance, you wanted to plant hybrid rice. Using your smartphone, you type “hybrid rice” (including the double quotes for precision), and none of those websites will show you a list of all hybrid rices available in the Philippines.

I visit the IRRI website (irri.org) and type “hybrid rice,” and it shows me a page with 387 words explaining what “hybrid rice” means, etcetera – nothing else. Still on the website, when I search further for “hybrid rice varieties,” I am shown a countless number of text & image entries but no list of the varieties! Same with the PhilRice website (philrice.gov.ph) and ATI website (ati.da.gov.ph). No list.

All those are old-style websites that keep on adding news & info to the current content but hardly discuss new or improved technology or system in agriculture!

Here are 2 entries in that IRRI webpage:

« Facilitating the development of close partnerships between the public and private sectors to promote hybrid rice research and development

« Carrying out multi-location varietal trials to select the best hybrid rice for different environments.

So, IRRI is still promoting public-private hybrid rice R&D. When will it end?

Instead, IRRI should be promoting the “promising results” of its R&D. That would be a good part of the Digital Library of Smart Farming!

We need a smart library first, and then we can come up with SmartFarmers using their smartphones.@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/30/smartphones-social-media-become-vital-tools-for-farmers-under-this-digital-farming-course/?fbclid=IwAR0IUeVjWXLYpuvhdVBLPkdM8zpZldLn2W1CvV0nKHgRMwPuNkFv3wdrmqw

Ms Marguerite Feeling Guilty Spokening English – Me Feeling Gifted

Look at Marguerite De Leon of Rappler – unashamed to display the languages of body & tattoos, ashamed to display the English language at the first sign of casual conversation!

(MDL’s half body[1] from Rappler)

Ms Marguerite has written about her feeling guilty spokening English – “The Guilt Of Being Born And Raised Filipino, But Having English As Your First Language[2]” (18 August 2020, Rappler.com). “Spokening English” in my title above is of course a Filipino corruption of “speaking in English,” either an apology for speaking in that tongue, or attempt to shame someone who is.

We Filipinos are downgrading our own cultural abilities such as by being ashamed of communicating in English at anytime.

Ms Marguerite says:

English is my first language, the one I hear in my head when I think, the one that just rolls right out of me when I need to convey something, anything.

I Frank A Hilario am an FBI, full-blooded Ilocano, but English is my first language when I think, especially when I write – and I blog every single day.

Rappler says Ms Marguerite is head of its Opinion Section:

She is also a fictionist, and came out with her first collection of short stories, People In Panic, in 2015.

English. Instead of being ashamed spokening English, Ms Marguerite should be encouraging people to learn more English than they already know! Because, especially the American version, English is the world’s currency in information, intelligence and insights.

Ms Marguerite says:

I was born and raised in Metro Manila, to fully Filipino parents, in a fully Filipino household, and had never based myself outside of the country. But if you told me to hold a conversation or write an essay in the Filipino language right now, you would be subjecting me to a daunting, maybe even frightening, task.

Miss Marguerite, that’s your story – you cannot rewrite it, so don’t try to! It’s your advantage: claim it.

My story is that I am a farmer’s son, not poor but not rich, and I learned to feel enriched with the English language, British and/or American, when I was in high school, private, with the library full of books (many world classics), westerns and detective stories with legal twists (Perry Mason books by Earl Stanley Gardner) and readables such as LOOK, Newsweek, Reader's Digest – that’s how this introvert learned to love the English language to the death!

That English love turned to writing, that turned to editing, that turned to digital writing, digital editing, digital publishing – and blogging, which I have been doing every single day in the last 19 months.

I blog in Agriculture in favor of the social good of Filipino farmers starting with technology. I search for knowledge and experience via the Internet in mostly spoken in English anywhere in the world. After all, English is the universal language.

I employ my own theory that I call Communication for Development, and I have a blog by that name. Ms Marguerite, I invite you to read me spokening English!@517
https://communicationfordevelopmentphcomdev.blogspot.com).

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[1]https://www.rappler.com/authorm/arguerite-de-leon

[2]https://www.rappler.com/voices/rappler-blogs/opinion-guilt-being-born-raised-filipino-english-first-language?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1ryf6--9a6Yz1Rp2jErk5tIXlyhjuWB3gh1b-xDXAs0Vk8_JUL7c9eHqI#Echobox=1623567095

PH Universities With High World Rankings By QS, What Do They Care About?

“We care!” It’s 4:30 AM, Wednesday, 28 July 2021 in Manila. I just woke up from a dream, and that’s the thought, exact 2 words that woke me up.

Unfortunately, UST and other PH universities don’t care! We have had no Internet since 3 days ago; we paid 1 week ago – on his birthday, I cannot Facebook-greet SRO “Happy 86!” PLDTHomeFibr doesn’t care! (I had to predate this one.)

“We care” is free, something you can find only on Facebook – if you have Internet.

Above image, proudly shared on Facebook via Varsitarian.net: “UST Becomes First PH University With 5-Star QS Rating.” How do UST people rate themselves in terms of National Development? (Don’t answer.)

The article by Jacqueline B Martinez (21 July 2021) says, “UST has become the first and only higher education institution (HEI) in the Philippines with a five-star Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) rating.” Details:

QS recognized UST’s Doctor of Medicine program as its specialization and gave it a perfect score in graduate employability as well as high scores in completion and student satisfaction and accreditation.

5-Star QS means UST is the perfect university for medical students, especially in employability.

Of the seven other categories on which the rating was based, the University secured five stars in teaching, employability, internationalization and facilities.

What about the awareness on and knowledge of the current realities in the Philippines in Medicine?

I’m sure the answer is: “Hardly any.” So what is there for UST to brag about when the country needs it the most and UST cannot help?

The QS is an international index of prestige, not of patriotism, not of service to country. The QS is a Boy’s Bragging, not a Man’s Measure of Love of Country!

So, how can UST as a whole contribute to the overall good of the country? And I ask of the other higher educational institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines, including my alma mater, the University of the Philippines.

Well, you might argue, we UP students take to the streets every now and then! And I counter, but we only denounce the bad news as we see it – not announce the good news because we don’t see it!

So, is Medicine the 5-Star problem of the country today? No, it’s Lack of Love of fellowmen. All HEIs must help fill it. The solution is already there: The Ten Commandments.

How much of a Christian are you? How many stars out of The Ten Commandments can you boast you deserve?

1.  I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.

2.  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3.  You shall keep holy the Sabbath.

4.  Honor your father and your mother.

5.  You shall not kill.

6.  You shall not commit adultery.

7.  You shall not steal.

8.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

Do you care?@517

SRO At 86 – A New Challenge? Golden Rice

Happy 86^th Birthday SRO! May you have more happy rices to come! As my tribute, I have created a component of my theory of Communication for Development (C4D) in your honor: Advice from Age for Development (AA4D).

I understand that once in a while, Santiago Rigonan Obien, who loves his initials SRO, takes over the chairmanship of Asia Rice Foundation (Asia Rice), which is based at Searca, which is based at the campus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Asia Rice is Asia-wide; Searca is Asean-wide; and UPLB is nationwide – in one geographical location in my country, all the bases of Asian science are covered!

I mentioned on page 2 of my 1^st internationally published book Team ICRISAT Champions The Poor (2007, 133 pages), published by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), that I had written on SRO this article: “Management: Relating Is Everything. Or, The Wizard Of Rice Who Cultivated Minds,’ 31 July 2006, https://americanfrank@blogspot.com).

The image above is from that article – 15 years later, he is still “in love” with hybrid rice. And I don’t blame him. In humans, the preferred and welcome multiplication mode is hybrid – you marry preferably a stranger. Hybrid vigor is much welcome with crops like rice, the common staple of billions of people all over the world.

What about “Golden Rice”? SRO is not into it that I know, but Asia Rice is into it. Now then, my advice is for Asia Rice to play safe:

In Asia, propagate the eating of Golden Rice as a health Option, not a Unidirection.

More. I edited and produced for SRO the UPLB Vanguards’ book Soldiers & Scientists (2012, 205 pages), where in Chapter 17 (“Santi Obien, The Mother Of PhilRice,” pages 182-183), I wrote:

In one email, I had the sudden insight and I told SRO: “Sir, don’t plant a tree – plant a thousand!”

Picking up from there, his message to his Vanguard brods is this:

Remember, brods, this Golden Anniversary will never happen again in our lifetime! Let's enjoy life to the full.

Yes, “plant a tree” can only be assumed to be in the plural form, but if that’s what we mean, why not say it? Thousand trees will be meaningful, more meaningful than just a tree.

Yes, I have and am still planting trees in our mountain farm in Bugnay. I guess I must have planted over a thousand mahogany and a hundred Gmelinas, a hundred atis and more of mango MMSU gold, 300 bananas (lacatan) – except that the farm has suffered from typhoons and droughts.

Yes, let us plant thousands of trees to make the scenery green to greener… to give us food, to shelter the birds, and hold the water from being lost to the rivers and creeks.

And then we can live forever!

Personal history: With SRO’s advance of P50K for my editing and digital publishing the above Vanguards’ book, I bought my very first laptop. And that is how, with my love for digital writing, I shall live forever!@517

Thousands Of Birds, Millions In ACPC Loans With 0 Interest, Bigger Raiser Growing Smaller Raisers!

I continue enriching my own theory of communication for development (C4D); this concept is Extension for Development (Ex4D) – learn more, aggie extensionists whoever you are wherever, so you can extend more!

(original poultry image[1] from The Big Book Project)

We are in Barangay Sabang, San Jose, Batangas, at the LMV Farm. We are with the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) listening to ACPC interviewer Karlo Abarquez talking with Cecille Aldueza, wife of Leo Marvin Virtucio (LMV); I translate & pick freely from the Taglish exchange.

Ms Cecille says of her husband: “He is the full-fledged egg farmer. I cover Finance and Marketing as well as Product Development.”

Around 2012, we started with a small poultry near our house in Lumil. We were based in Makati while developing a farm here in Barangay Sabang. Right now we have 3 buildings.

They settled in San Jose in 2016 to manage their agribusiness full-time.

What we wanted to do was look for bigger markets. We are still small. We are not even 50,000 layers; you compare that with the total bird population in our town of 12 million.

They have 3 buildings, 1 business to take care of carefully. Family affair.

One family takes care of one building. We have a Farm Manager. In the afternoon, we must know how many eggs laid, how much feeds consumed, how many birds died if any. We must see if a building has income or none.

They supply eggs to Metro Manila.

Since 2020, we have been supporting the project of the Department of Agriculture called “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita.” We have to bring our produce to the National Capital Region.

For management, they converted one garage beside their house into the “Kadiwa Egg Terminal.”

Barangay Lumil is where we have the setup. We have a biosecurity post so that everything that comes in is checked and monitored.

Economically lost to the lockdown the markets of Mimaropa, the Visayas and Mindanao, they looked elsewhere. “Now, it’s timing that Metro Manila needs food supplies.”

We assisted the small poultry raisers; we bought from them; we picked up the eggs, and consolidated them before delivery.

“How does LMV Farm treat its laborers?”

We treat them as family. One building, one family takes care of the operations. Aside from generating jobs for farmworkers, we hire people as crew, sorters of eggs, deliverers of eggs, and we help resellers. That’s how we create livelihoods for many.

It’s all digital:

Because I finished Accountancy and Information Management, I am doing everything digital. I train my workers using their cellphone to encode or text production numbers so we can immediately see.

Borrowed P4 million from ACPC, zero interest. We may add that it would be nicer if the ACPC can implement bigger-scale loans. With the help of successful agri-preneurs, ACPC can teach us to stand on our own feet. It is important that we learn how to help ourselves – and then to help each other.

To that, “Amen” I say!@517

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[1]https://thebigbookproject.org/agri/poultry-farming/how-to-start-a-poultry-farm-business-in-the-philippines/

Original Conceptually, “Communication For Development” – By Frank A Hilario, Published In 1980

Above, only 6 individual images show in the single photograph, but I say there is a 7^th image. What!? It’s the whole view, from which to derive a single, overall meaning! (See also my last sentence below.)

The above is that of a providential Windows 10 collage in my extension ViewSonic screen, photograph taken by me with my Lumix FZ100 digital camera on 06 May 2018. As far as I can tell, the included images are all mine, lodged in my Lenovo ThinkPad 500 GB laptop. Those are among my available collection of 10,347 photos (no duplicates) dating back 2004; actually, I have more – I have also lost about 20,000 images by my error in reformatting my hard disk in the previous, smaller laptop (Lenovo IdeaPad).

I selected that photograph when I saw the upper left image is that of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) with its slogan “Science with a human face,” and the lower middle image, that of William Dar, then Director General of ICRISAT (from 2000 to 2014), which is based in India, now the current PH Secretary of Agriculture. Talk about coincidences! (Remember, the collage is Windows’, not mine.)

Above is a lesson in Insight, a necessary component of my Theory of Communication for Development (C4D) that I have been blogging about (old acronym “ComDev”) since 2005. In my current list, those C4D concepts I have blogged or will be blogging about are these:

1. Advice from Age for Development (AA4D). Wisdom with years
2. Education for Development (E4D): Updating knowledge
3. Extension for Development (Ex4D); Media, including digital
4.  Insight for Development (In4D): Intuition, faith
5. Proposal for Development (Pr4D): New projects/concepts
6. Prescription for Development (Rx4D): Given public/private aids
7. Research for Development (R4D): The very first one I thought of, 41 years after! publishing “Communication for Development” (Sylvatrop December 1980). Googling, I find other people’s “Communication for Development” concepts I have to differentiate mine.

From William Dar, “Research for Development.” From Frank A Hilario, “Communication for Development.” Perfect combination!

For me, “Development” means Growth with Sustainability up to National – starting from the Village. After “It takes a village to raise a child.”

The components of my concepts comprising C4D are, alphabetically arranged:

(1)   Demonstrations – technologies & systems

(2)   Digital records of anything & everything related to agriculture & fisheries

(3)   Insights – seeming truths from previous observations

(4)   Interviews with participants in a program, project, or activity

(5)   Perspectives – opinions/views on anything

(6)   Photographs – digital/digitalized, from anyone

(7)   Theories – new, workable concepts.

Website above all – where any/all the above 7 are accessible, and by which understanding of the C4D components as listed above may be reached. Including theoretical articles about communication and development in themselves.

Today, I am adopting as slogan for C4D this: “Science with a village face” – which I proudly borrow from the slogan of Mr Dar as head of ICRISAT, based in India (I am based in the Philippines). Now follows a proverb reinvented: “It takes a village to probe science!”@517

William Dar’s Message To Alma Mater ISPSC – “Partner With Government To Usher PH Development”

I am inventing an area for helping develop my country the Philippines – Education for Development (Ed4D), which explains the above title. [The acronym considers another area, Extension for Development (Ex4D), coming up!]

Facebook sharing of Aida Page: On 23 July 2021, in his message, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar challenged the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College (ISPSC) celebrating the first-year anniversary of Gilbert Arce as ISPSC President. (The Facebook post did not say in which of the 6 campuses of ISPSC that it happened: Candon City, Cervantes, Narvacan, Santiago, Santa Maria, Tagudin – all in Ilocos Sur. I will assume here that it was Santa Maria because that is where Mr Dar was born.)
(ISPSC logo[1] from Facebook)

Mr Dar’s challenge to all campuses and alumni of ISPSC was: “Partner with the government in pushing for economic stability and usher development (for the Philippines) to be able to compete with other countries.”

In his anniversary message, Mr Dar “urged the state college to realign its directions towards improving economic development and (thereby reducing) poverty not only in the province, but in the region as well.”

Mr Dar also challenged Mr Arce and the rest of the ISPSC Family of Campuses “to work towards transforming the institution from teaching into a research college.” I understand that to mean not necessarily to decrease its teaching load but to increase its research portfolio in terms of quantity and quality. Aha, research for development (R4D)!

“(He) cited advanced and emerging countries that have invested so much in research and innovation.” (The sharing did not list the countries either. You don’t have to look far. I think among the 10 Asean member-countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam – the Philippines is struggling when it comes to research for development; even while the United States’ science presence in this country has been in the last 100+ years.

“Do not be contented (with) acquiring Intellectual Property Rights, although it’s a good indication that you are doing something. But it must not be the end result. Always see to it that the technologies that you have produced are used and adopted by farmers.”

He elevated his challenge to all “higher education institutions in the country to follow the pathway towards the realization of being a research institution to improve food productivity levels and help in the development of Philippine agriculture.”

As head of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and as a high school alumnus of ISPSC, “He also committed to continue supporting ISPSC and vowed to provide assistance in transforming it into one of the best institutions for agriculture and rural development.” I know Mr Dar well enough to say he is not favoring ISPSC among the state colleges & universities in the country; this is his way of thanking his alma mater.

2 added lessons: Lockdown or not, the best medium to teach now is? Digital. The best medium to help develop agriculture is? Digital. Then we all can learn anytime, anyplace, anywhere!@517

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/ISPSCTagudinCampusTagudinIlocosSur/

SEARCA Studies Successes Of PH BAR’s Banner Program In Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR)

My discovery: “Community-Based Participatory Action Research” (CPAR) is R4D I love. The best is yet to come!

Thus inspired, “More C4D 4 More R4D” is the slogan for this new blog of almost-81-year-old FAH, Communication for Development (C4D). Grow old along with me!

Dirk Schubotz says participatory action research (PAR) is “participative and democratic research practice with transformational focus[1]” (2019, “Participatory Action Research,” Sage Research Methods):

At the core of PAR projects is the triad of action, participation, and research. … The ambition of PAR (is) to undertake social research not only in order to find out things but also to change things, and how this ethos of planning and working towards social change, rather than (merely) hoping to trigger change, sets PAR apart from other conventional types of research.
(Above, PAR image[2] from Sage Research Methods); superimposed village photograph by FAH taken 23 October 2018)

PAR is a different type of research. Action, participation, research “to change things.” PAR is not only “hoping for” but more so “triggering” desired change(s). Involve the community where the action is supposed to be, and you have Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CPAR).

CPAR is what we have in the article by Leander C Domingo in The Manila Times of 22 July 2021: “Community-Based Action Breeds Success[3]” – reporting that the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture (Searca) research project “Building Up From The Gains: Lessons From And Improvements For Effective Implementation Of The CPAR Program” has found “good results.” Searca has been commissioned by BAR to conduct the research on the results of CPAR in Luzon; the welcome news has been gathered from farmers & fishers in 3 towns: Lamut in Ifugao, San Fernando in Camarines Sur, and San Luis in Batangas.

Mr Domingo says a forum jointly organized by Searca and BAR has “narrated successful and motivating stories that were outcomes of CPAR projects.” Rico Ancog, Searca Program Leader for “Emerging Innovation for Growth,” says “the motivating stories” are results of three CPAR projects: (1) “Good Agricultural Practices in High Value Crop Production,” (2) “Improved Tilapia Production,” and (3) “Enterprise Development from Ragiwdiw Processing.”

“The Ragiwdiw technology was also commended by participants.” The details of the technology were not explained in the article. Helpful, the Facebook page of BAR says Rynchospora corymbosa, locally called ragiwdiw and bankuan, is “a perennial sedge that grows plentifully in flood-prone areas in Bicol, where the stalks are dried and handcrafted into baskets, bags, shoe wear, and other decors.”

On its website, Searca says CPAR has been one of BAR’s banner programs since 1998. I read that, aside from testing and verifying different agricultural technologies:

CPAR endorses the demonstration of improved farming systems and fishing technologies and practices to fit the needs and requirements of a particular micro-agro-climatic environment within a given municipality or province.

R4D “to fit the needs…” It must always be that the last word comes the client. Isn’t CPAR wonderful?!@517

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[1]https://methods.sagepub.com/foundations/participatory-action-research
[2]https://methods.sagepub.com/foundations/participatory-action-research
[3]https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/07/22/business/agribusiness/community-based-action-breeds-success/1807957

Researching Farm Tourism With SURE-Aid Covid-19 Loan Program

Why don’t the Philippine Council For Agriculture, Aquatic & Natural Resources Research & Development (PCAARRD) and/or Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) promote R4D for farm tourism, first, by researching successful farms?

Already, the Department of Agriculture (DA), through its attached agency Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), is helping develop tourism farms with its Sure-Aid and Recover from Covid-19 (SURE Aid Covid-19) Loan Program.

I am reading the interview of Elmer Relente of Calaca, Batangas, husband of Ellen, owners of Anpilo AgriFarm (above image), by Karlo Abarquez, from the Communications & Public Affairs Division of ACPC, where Emmalyn Guinto is Division Chief. (I’m selecting & translating freely from the 4,300-word transcript in Taglish of the video recorded on location.)

Notably, Mr Relente says, “Naisipan naming itayo ang farm na ito dahil sa paniniwala namin na may bukas sa agrikultura.” (We thought of setting up this farm because we believed there was a bright tomorrow for agriculture.) He means business.

Mr Abarquez says, “Actually, the Mission of Anpilo Farm is to help promote agriculture using the organic method, and the Vision is to help multiply the number of Agripreneurs in our country.” I say, “Wow!”

Mr Relente explains, “Organic has many advantages, one being able to save on your farm inputs and yet produce excellent and safe food for your customers.”

“Anpilo Farm has been growing dragon fruits for the last 8 years. Long-term crop. But we are also growing short-term crops: tomato, chilli, pechay, lettuce, ampalaya, and eggplant – vegetables for pinakbet (the popular special Ilocano dish – this author is an Ilocano). Cash crops. Then we have plans for our farm to accept tourists, and link with the Department of Tourism (DoT) so that we become part of the DoT’s promotion of Agriculture and Tourism in our country.”

Yes, Mr Relente is a dreamer. I say you have to dream to push yourself. Formerly a Certified Public Accountant of a big company in Manila (company name unmentioned), working for 30 years, until his wife Ellen and he took a vacation in Davao. That’s where they saw dragon fruits, and that brought out their business dream in agriculture. He says:

“So we planted a few dragon fruits, and we found out that we had to address many things such as the problems of financing, fertilizer, and knowledge. So we decided to venture into agriculture to delve into these problems and, as it turned out, these became our advocacies. So, we registered Anpilo Farm in 2013 and, since then, we have studied what else to plant aside from dragon fruit.”

Ms Ellen says, “ACPC has been a big help to us because it came at the right time.” Dragon fruit is seasonal; in-between there is no harvest, no income. The ACPC loan came in, and they expanded into vegetables. “In only 30 days you harvest TONS of pechay. You earn money and at the same time help others eat.”

We need studies on SURE Aid Covid-19 helping more farmers. Also: For operational efficiencies, how about studying loans for Cluster Farm Tourism?@517

PH Science Lessons From IITA Vs From ICRISAT

Which do you do to combat aflatoxin on farm produce: Control the fungus? Or control the food contamination? More!

As practitioner of my own 1980 theory of communication for development (C4D), I am now actively campaigning for research for development (R4D) in PH and abroad.

Today, I compare 2 approaches to R4D by 2 international research agencies trying to defeat the same aflatoxin contamination of farm produce by the fungus Aspergillus flavus. These are the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in India; and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) based in Nigeria – both under the aegis of CGIAR.

“Combating Aflatoxin[1]” shouts the webpage of ICRISAT (lower image); “IITA Signs Aflasafe[2]…” says the title from the IITA Bulletin (upper image). One method of combat contrasts with the other: dollar-rich, that of the IITA; dollar-conscious, that of ICRISAT.

Here is a quote from the IITA article by ANN (Author Not Named, 21 June 2021):

Food safety took a step forward in Mozambique as IITA signed a Technology Transfer and Licensing Agreement (TTLA) with AflaLivre Moçambique S.A. (AflaLivre) to manufacture and distribute Aflasafe in the country.

That IITA signed a TTLA with AflaLivre Mozambique to manufacture and distribute Aflasafe in Mozambique tells us that the amount is much, much! Again I quote from ANN:

The country’s huge production potential and aflatoxin challenge led IITA and partners to develop and adapt the aflatoxin biocontrol technology for local use with funding from USAID. After several years, two Aflasafe products – Aflasafe MZMW01 and Aflasafe MZ02 – that were developed with atoxigenic (read: non-toxic – FAH) strains of Aspergillus flavus native to Mozambique and tested across the country were registered in February 2019 for commercial use by the Division of Registration and Control of Agrochemicals, in the Department of Plant Health under the National Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety. As a result, farmers in Mozambique now have an effective technology to address the aflatoxin menace.

Did you notice the bureaucracy involved? 4 stages: from Division to Department to National Directorate to Ministry. I would not be surprised if the administrative matters attending the research were complicated. Also, note length of research: “Several years.”

This Aflasafe manufacturing facility in Nampula, the fifth in sub-Saharan Africa, should be operational by June 2022.

They need a manufacturing facility, and it will be operational next year – meaning, it must be dollar-consuming!

Mozambique has high aflatoxin levels in its food crops such as corn, cassava, and peanut. ANN says “high aflatoxin levels in these crops undermine their nutritional value and reduce access to lucrative export markets…”

In contrast, another ANN (see “Combating Aflatoxin[3]”, undated, ICRISAT.org) says ICRISAT developed in-house a much-more inexpensive protocol: “an aflatoxin testing kit using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) to rapidly detect aflatoxin” – plus “Good agricultural practices (GAPs) identified to reduce pre- and post-harvest aflatoxin contamination.”

GAPs plug any remaining health holes. Thus, following ICRISAT’s example, R4D is both intellectually & commercially rewarding when properly practiced!@517

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[1]https://www.icrisat.org/aflatoxin/
[2]https://www.iita.org/news-item/iita-signs-aflasafe-manufacturing-and-distribution-agreement-n-mozambique/
[3]https://www.icrisat.org/aflatoxin/

Research for Development (R4D) Requires Communication For Development (C4D)

My open appeal to the Philippine Council For Agriculture, Aquatic & Natural Resources Research & Development (PCAARRD) and Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR)  – “Please fund thousands more researches for development!”

This new essay in this new blog, Communication For Development PH (C4D), was inspired by my yesterday’s essay, “PH Revolutionizing World Science – ‘R4D Instead Of R&D,’ Says William Dar, Agriculture Secretary[1]” (20 July 2021, Communication For Development PH, blogspot.com) – which has been inspired by Mr Dar. We must emphasize what we do is for development.

We have a Goliath of a problem here, as 49-year old PCAARRD itself by name has welcomed “research and development” (R&D) and ignored “research for development” (R4D). R4D needs C4D before, during & after. And I am the pretender to the one who defeated Goliath – David.

My nerve to do a David comes from, among other things, being an original aboriginal (Ilocano) with my own theory of communication for development (ComDev) that was born in 1980.

Thank you, Mr Dar! The philosophy of my C4D/ComDev is now enriched by your R4D.

Some 5 years ago, I was a training consultant under Project Leader & UP Los Baños Professor Rene Rafael Espino for the Department of Agrarian Reform (the DAR) initiative called “Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity & Economic Support Services (ARCCESS); we covered Pangasinan and La Union. The top photograph I took somewhere in San Fernando, La Union, 26 August 2016. We see a single loose goat – if you multiply the number with your ARCCESS, you have a herd, and you have a thankful community!

Today, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is very active in sponsoring and spending for animal-raising projects all over the country. Yes, I know that in my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan, our Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative has received more than 500 free range chickens from DA Region 1 with the active endorsement of Jovita Datuin, Regional Technical Director of the DA Regional Field Office in the Ilocos Region.
(bottom image[2] from Asingan.gov.ph)

That’s R4D. You don’t need a magic spell to help people make at least their food dreams come true.

My short message is: Stop R&D, Start R4D!

The total 2021 budget of PCAARRD for 2021 is P1.44 Billion[3]. The total 2018 budget of the BAR was P1.17 Billion[4]. So much money not spent for R4D!

For PCAARRD, where is much of the P1.44 Billion budget being spent for 2021? For R&D projects of course. Some of whose results later end up as published papers, the rest submitted as manuscripts of completed researches and will be sleeping in drawers or cabinets for the rest of their lives!

Where was the rest of the P1.17 Billion 2018 budget for the BAR spent? Probably similar to the P1.44 Billion 2021 budget of PCAARRD. Hundreds of research projects R&D, not R4D.

Why couldn’t P1 Billion each of the BAR and PCAARRD budgets be assigned for R4D? Because their heads are thinking only R&D, not R4D, carrying on science tradition. I say: “Time to revolutionize research thinking!”@517

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[1]https://communicationfordevelopmentphcomdev.blogspot.com/2021/07/agriculture-bill-gates-wants-meatless.html
[2]http://www.asingan.gov.ph/bagong-pasilidad-para-sa-free-range-chicken-sa-bayan-ng-asingan/
[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Council_for_Agriculture,_Aquatic,_and_Natural_Resources_Research_and_Development
[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Agricultural_Research

PH Revolutionizing World Science – “R4D Instead Of R&D,” Says William Dar, Agriculture Secretary

Time to wake up the world into a bright new day via a revolutionary idea in Science!

I have been reading the commencement address of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar at the 69th Annual Commencement Exercises of Central Luzon State University (CLSU) held on 09 July 2021 in the Science City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija. On this occasion, Mr Dar was conferred a Doctor of Humanities title (Honoris Causa).
(top image)

As ex-officio head of the Department of Agriculture (DA), among other things, Mr Dar said uniquely (with my little editing):

The challenges of development in a nation such as ours are deep, difficult, and persistent. They will continue for as long as we draw breath: poverty, technological backwardness, and shameful waste.

That’s why we at the DA (wish to) tap those excelling in the field of agri-research, such as CLSU, to pursue research for development instead of research and development. It is a quest for learning and truth. And I emphasize this change in the (concept) that we at the DA now embrace as it captures the need for a New Thinking.

I repeat the most significant part of the 1,100-word untitled speech:

“To tap those excelling in the field of agri-research, such as CLSU, to pursue research fordevelopment instead of research anddevelopment” (my italics). Those words in quotes are saying:

“Go R4D, Stop R&D!” Mr Dar thereby brings the dawn of a new day in the history of research!
(above, my sunrise image, 26-09-2010, shading old images)

“R4D” means results immediately applicable in the field. Inadvertently thereby, Mr Dar is waking up the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, of which he was Director General from January 2000 to December 2014: ICRISAT still in the Gray Day of R&D, not yet in the Bright Morning of R4D!
(ICRISAT image[1] from ICRISAT.org)

Let me give you a personal example of R4D, my proposal to grow hybrid/inbred rice in a project I shall now call “Automatic Surface Field Fertilizer (ASF²) For Growing Hybrid/Inbred Rices.” To formulate the ASF²:

Carefully, run the rotavator or rototiller across the whole field so that the blades cut into the soil down 2-3 inches only, not deeper. In this way, the vegetative cover (crop leftover and/or weeds) is cut to pieces along with the soil; as the blades rotate, the pieces of soil and vegetation are automatically mixed and laid on the surface of the field as mulch – your automatic natural fertilizer.

Comparatively, ASF² cultivation is very much simpler than ecological farming, organic farming, or natural farming. With financial assistance from the DA, and with Flarino Flauta as my Co-Proponent – Facebook says he is former Manager of Philnatural Ecology Farming Corporation – we will introduce ASF² at 3 campuses: Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in the North, CLSU in Central Luzon, and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in Southern Tagalog. Other aggie campuses may be added later. (A project proposal is coming up!)

To R4D be Science Glory!@517

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[1]https://www.icrisat.org/research-development/