Internet of Thoughts Agriculture (IoTA), With Science, Coops & Loans Driving Farm Management

 

I’m talking about Digitally Abled Agriculturevia Google searches for advices, choices, concerns, experiences, instructions, options, philosophies, procedures, and theories in farming. Farmers incessantly learning from an inexhaustible online library of knowledge.

SMART JUAN. Yes, it operates with The Internet-Ready 5 Ws of Agriculture: Who, What, Where, When & Why.
(upper image[1] from PNA.gov.ph;
lower image[2] from ATI.da.gov.ph)

This is a follow-up to my SMART JUAN proposal for digitally informed agriculture contained in 2 essays, both published in this blog, TIT for TAT: (1) “‘Smart Juan’ – The Digital Renaissance Of ‘Juan Tamad’ Into An All-Knowing Farmer[3],” 15-08-2021; and (2) “What Agriculture Can Do To Help Control Climate Change[4],” 16-08-2021.

A Knowledge Basefor PH Agriculture, SMART JUAN means: “Stored Matter Adapted To Rural Terrain Translated For Johns Utilizing Agricultural Notes, Notions, Novelties In Science.” (“Johns” is English plural of Filipino moniker “Juan,” from “Juan De La Cruz.”)

Yes, I am recommending that the Department of Agriculture (DA) under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar generate a DA Program called “SMART JUAN” as a digital library of agriculture as described here. The Internet of Thoughts Agriculture (IoTA).

The name is original, the thought not. In 2003, Director General William Dar of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) submitted a concept he called “Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA),” proposing that Philippine agriculture offices generate an online library. As a PhilRice consultant, recruited by PhilRice Executive Director Leo Sebastian, in reaction I internalized & externalized & submitted a digital book I called The Geography Of Knowledge (TGoK), 198 pages, dated 2003 – I still have a complete pdf copy of it. Its latest incarnation is what I now call SMART JUAN.

I’m thinking of a special DA Internet program involving PH's Top Ten state colleges & universities (SCUs) in the Philippines, with UP Los Baños as the program’s headquarters – emphasis on the “head,” as UPLB is #1 when it comes to SCUs science in the Philippines.

Additionally, the UPLB campus is physically & intellectually enriched with several Philippine institutions: Ecosystems Research & Development Bureau (ERDB); Forest Products Research & Industries Development Commission (FORPRIDECOM); National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BIOTECH); and Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic & Natural Resources Research & Development (PCAARRD). Plus: international institutions: Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).

I superimposed the logo of Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative in my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan, to indicate knowledge as I had been for a few years a member of the Nagkaisa board, and to drive the point home that coops should be the main conduit for the Internet of Helps & Financing (IoHF). The IoHF will help the farmers with loans and farm management. The Agricultural Credit & Policy Council (ACPC) should be much involved in this, via coopbanks: Farm management supervision must be required for loans.

Uniquely then, the whole program IoTA will handhold the Filipino farmers.@517

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1078457

[2]https://ati.da.gov.ph/ati-3/content/digital-farmers-program

[3]https://titfortatteachingindependentthinking.blogspot.com/2021/08/smart-juan-digital-renaissance-of-juan.html

[4]https://titfortatteachingindependentthinking.blogspot.com/2021/08/what-agriculture-can-do-to-help-control.html