Philippines – Neglecting Our Agriculturists Is Neglecting Our Farmers!

We all have forgotten our Agriculturists – 
so have the Agriculturists themselves!
(ignore image[1] from Get Drawings.com)

I am super-glad to read of the bill that Deputy Speaker Sharon Garin is sponsoring, of which Charissa Luci-Atienza reports (07 February 2019, “House Leader Pushes Passage Of Magna Carta Of Agricultural Development Workers To Address Underemployment[2],” Manila Bulletin). Yes, we have so many unemployed Agriculturists! (See my essay 07 October 2020, “PH Aggie Education In Trouble! Graduates Of UP Los Baños & Other SCUs – No Jobs & No Pity?[3]” Brave New World PH).

The problem is the lack of jobs for Agriculturists. So, in terms of law, I’m thinking of another Magna Carta calling for the creation of vacancies throughout the country in the form of Agricultural Advisers, Aggie_Advisers, with offices based in municipalities and under the direct supervision of the Department of Agriculture, DA. Aggie_Advisers to serve the farmers anytime.

The Aggie_Advisers will everyday be talking to farmers and visiting fields to see what progress is being made and what problems there may be that they can give technical advice on.

1.      Crops – single cropping or multiple cropping?

2.      Seeds– which to plant, treatment necessary, sources?

3.      Land preparation – minimum/maximum tillage, rotavator vs disc plow, weed treatment?

4.      Planting – broadcasting/direct-planting/transplanting, seedbed preparation, distance between seedlings, number of seedlings per hill?

5.      Fertilizer – what fertilizer/s to use, organic/inorganic fertilizers, amounts & frequency of application?

6.      Pest management – chemical vs natural methods?

7.      Irrigation – flooding vs alternate wet & dry?

8.      Harvesting – manual or mechanical?

9.      Drying – roadside or mechanical drying?

10.   Warehousing – household or cooperative?

11.   Marketing – personal or group?

In each item in the list above, the choice of the average Filipino farmer has been automatic, and not very intelligent – and this is where the Aggie_Advisers come in. Thus:

Why not intercropping or multiple cropping? The answer depends on the location of the farm and history of crops in the area.

Are you going to plant inbred or hybrid? If you follow instructions, you will get a much higher yield from a hybrid than an inbred.

In land preparation, have you considered the use of the rotavator vs the disc plow?

In transplanting, why do you use old seedlings (1 month) when you can transplant young seedlings (2 weeks)? The older ones suffer transplanting stress, which reduces yield.

Organic or inorganic fertilizers – why or why not?

Will you use chemical pest control or natural – why or why not?

How can you save time, money and effort in irrigating your field?

Consider that there are losses when you use manual vs mechanical harvesting.

Consider also that there are losses when you use the sun vs a mechanical dryer.

Warehousing – You don’t have to sell your harvest during harvest time when the buying price is low.

Marketing – You need a group to do the marketing for you to enjoy fully the rewards of your labor.

I don’t think that when farmers begin enjoying the services of such Agie_Advisers, they will go back to their old uneconomic, poverty-maintaining methods!@517

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[1]http://getdrawings.com/diff-icon
[2]https://mb.com.ph/2019/02/07/house-leader-pushes-passage-of-magna-carta-of-agricultural-development-workers-to-address-underemployment/
[3]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2020/10/ph-aggie-education-in-trouble-graduates.html

PH Aggie Education In Trouble! Graduates Of UP Los Baños & Other SCUs – No Jobs & No Pity?

Surprise! 110 – that’s how old UP Los Baños is. 80 – that’s me, an alumnus, and I don’t remember reading about UPLB worrying and doing something about the fates of its graduates.

Here is UP Los Baños graduate Vicente Domingo, in his 2^ndterm as a member of the Board of Agriculture of the Philippine Regulatory Commission, performing one of his duties:

Delivering my speech after conducting the mass oath taking held in Region 10. There were more than 600 (board passers attending), sponsored by (the Philippine Association of Agriculturists), PAA with the assistance of DA Reg 10. (Sadly), more than 80% of these new Professional Agriculturists are still jobless. Very unfortunate.

Jobless Agriculturists!

And what has UP Los Baños being doing about it? As far as I know, nothing. Same with PAA. But thank you very much, Board Member Sonny Domingo, for pointing out a major flaw in PH agricultural education!

A wide reader, crusading blogger, BSA major in Ag Education, UP '65, here are my recommendations:

Any major of any baccalaureate degree in any of the State Colleges & Universities, SCUs, should be all about entrepreneurship, such as:

BSA major in Agroforestry – with entrepreneurship such as in the raising of cacao and coffee under fruit & other trees as nurse trees.

BSA major in Agronomy – with entrepreneurship such as in making sugarcane molasses and in sugar-based products

BSA major in Animal Husbandry – with entrepreneurship such as in Poultry, Duck Raising.

BSA major in Communication – with entrepreneurship such as in publishing a regional weekly digital newspaper

BSA major in Education – with entrepreneurship such as in teaching multiple intelligences to farming youth

BSA major in Woodworking – with entrepreneurship such as in the use of narra, ipil-ipil, mabolo

Any educational undertaking by any of the SCUs should from now on be characterized as follows:

Technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable.

Entrepreneurship with an ecological twist – I’ll call it sustainable entrepreneurship.

Pertinently, an old news item says, “DA Allots P2-B To Fund Entrepreneurship Programs For Youth[1]” (09 January 2020). DA Chief William Dar says there are 2 programs: Young Agripreneurs Loan Program, YALP, and Micro and Small Agribusiness Loan Program, MSALP – with an initial budget of P1 billion each. Those funds may as well be reserved for students in SCUs with approved agripreneurship course plans.   

Mr Dar says:

This is our way to attract the younger generation of Filipinos to be key players in attaining our vision of a food-secure Philippines with prosperous farmers and fishers. We have to replace aging farmers with younger blood – our Pinoy millennials – who are the future of Philippine agriculture.

Following my recommendation, under the YALP, agripreneurs 18-30 years old should be able to borrow up to P500,000, with zero interest, payable in 5 years. Under the MSALP, agripreneurs can borrow working capital or for fixed-asset acquisition, from P300,000 to P15 million for micro and small enterprises.

That’s dreaming big.
If you have to dream,
why, you might as well dream big!@517

 

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1090489

Asia CEO Awards 2020 Makes History With A Man Who Is Making History – William Dar, PH Secretary Of Agriculture

Here’s an extra-special way of looking at the extraordinary achievements of a Filipino leader in the midst of adversities.

For 2020, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar has just been voted Asia CEO Awards 2020 Lifetime Contributor (Public Sector). An honor we Filipinos can’t refuse!

I look at it this way – Mr Dar has in the worst of times excelled in 5 Ex’s:

(1)     Exploring
the frontiers of a country whose people thought it was still 3^rdWorld when it is now 2^nd World, no longer under-developed but a country with untapped potentials for greater progress.

(2)     Examining
the strengths and weaknesses of Agriculture in Theory versus Practice in these islands of half-awake peasants;

(3)     Extemporizing
most things into “The New Thinking for Agriculture” for people in the villages to move out of poverty into prosperity;

(4)     Extrapolating
what he learned into what could and should be done, into 8 paradigms of agricultural growth for inclusive national development – Modernization, Industrialization, Promotion of exports, Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms, Infrastructure development, Higher budget & investment, Legislative support, and Roadmap development.

(5)     Expediting
paradigmatic developments by inspiring individuals and institutions to move the country forward beyond the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

Expectations are high. Mr Dar’s experience has proven he is Team Captain Par Excellence. As Director General, he led ICRISAT 2000-2014 from dead last to foremost among 15 international centers of the CGIAR Group based in France.

From the press release of the Department of Agriculture, DA, the Board of Judges of Asia CEO Awards 2020 is one “(in recognizing) leaders for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the country as a whole.” Richard Mills, Chair of the Board, says Mr Dar is “cited for his leadership and unwavering efforts to transform Philippine agriculture into a dynamic high-growth sector.”

In summary, Mr Mills says:

William Dar is a global leader in agriculture governance and research. As current Secretary of Agriculture, he is leading efforts to transform Philippine agriculture into a dynamic high-growth sector to speed up the country's recovery and poverty reduction.

Speedy growth recovery and poverty reduction – 2 Big Deals! Inspired, see Mr Dar smiling – he is doing what possibly can be done and knows it.

Mr Mills also says:

The Asia CEO Awards 2020 Board of Judges also put premium in Dar’s initiative in making the Department of Agriculture transparent and (thereby) "erase the old-stricken image of a corrupt-driven department.”

Also, I happen to know that, as Caesar’s wife must be, Betty Dar is beyond reproach.

The board of judges included noted economist Bernie Villegas; former Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Darlene Berberabe; former president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Don Felbaum; world-renowned architectural design and planning expert Jun Palafox; former Management Association of the Philippines President Marife Zamora; and Richard Mills, former president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

I see each of the members of the Asia CEO Awards 2020 board of judges as beyond reproach!@517

 

Can Nagkaisa, A Cooperative, Cultivate Very Rich Tourism Farmers In Asingan, Pangasinan?

Nagkaisa Facebook sharing: October Cooperatives Month. “Cooperatives – Amidst the Pandemic, Stand for Resiliency, Strive For Sustainability.” Brave New Words!

I have been a board member of the Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative of my hometown Asingan in Pangasinan. I am a BS Agriculture graduate, UP '65, and I believe I know enough of least-cost agriculture to make a success of a Nagkaisa tourism farm project, with a total area of 2 ha located where the Sinapog bypass bridge passes, the project I have called “The Bridge To Prosperity” (see my 22 February 2020 essay, “Redesigning PH Agriculture – Science-Wise, Ilocano-Wiser![1],” THiNK Journalism).

I believe in the leadership of Roger Daranciang as Chair of Nagkaisa. Also, I believe in the national leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, whom I came to know when he was still Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India. After reading my blogposts, he made me an international consulting writer, work from home, WFH. How successful was my WFH? ICRISAT published 7 books I wrote on ICRISAT between 2007 and 2014.

So I have one foot at the door of the Department of Agriculture, DA, headed by Mr Dar, and Nagkaisa could tap DA funds for cooperatives.

October is Cooperatives Month all over the world. There are a thousand successful coops; there are a million unsuccessful ones.

Your Question: “What is the powerful role of cooperatives in agriculture?”

My Answer:Bringing about Economies of Scale for every member’s welfare, be it a yearly order of bath soap or a bulky purchase of fertilizer and pesticide. And avoiding quick loans of money from friendly usurers.

I still prefer the theme of the Cooperatives’ Month celebration in 2017, this:

“Cooperatives – Empowering The Poor And The Vulnerable
Towards Job Creation And Poverty Eradication.”

Yes, in the countryside and among farmers and fishers, there are many who live below the poverty level. So, how do we eradicate poverty via coops?

To reduce poverty, I will give you 2 ways by which our Sinapog Bridge To Prosperity can help farmers minimize costs and maximize returns if they follow the Sinapog Farm Model:

(1)   Minimum Inputs. I have invented a technique I will now call systematic organic mulch. The rotavator blades create all over the field a layer of finely-cut & well-mixed weeds and soil that becomes natural organic fertilizer almost immediately. My brother in-law Inso in my hometown Asingan has been using such technique successfully since 1965, much outyielding his farm neighbors!

(2)   Maximum crops. For the Sinapog tourism farm, of which I shall be Project Leader, I plan to intercrop vegetables with rice and/or corn.

How will the anticipated success of our Sinapog tourism farm help the other farmer members of Nagkaisa, not to mention other farmers in Asingan and neighboring towns who can easily visit the Sinapog farm? Aside from farmers watching, I will write a detailed book and what we do to make Sinapog successful. All the farmers have to do is Follow The Leader!@517

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[1]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/02/redesigning-ph-agriculture-science-wise.html

PH Agricultural Training Institute Should Actively Practice Extension, To Multiply ATI Power!

The Agricultural Training Institute, ATI, claims it is also doing Extension. Let’s see!

In Extension, first you ask.
In Training, first you tell.

Extension is providing answers to questions when being asked; in contrast,
Training is providing answers to questions ahead of being asked!

In Extension, the Client’s learning requirements are matched with what is/are available or known.
In Training, the Client’s needs have to match any of the training modules available, or no learning at all!

In Extension, the Client is asked what s/he needs to know – the Client is always right.
In Training, the Client is told what s/he needs to know – the Trainor is always right!

There must be hundreds of thousands of people who need more Extension than straight Training.
Extension – you fit your knowledge with the person;
Training – the person has to fit with your knowledge.

Above is the best combined image I found to portray ATI today: All training. The captions on the frames say: Crops, Livestock & Poultry, Fisheries, Social Technology, Sustainable Agriculture. (Last frame says, “Click here to see a demo course now.”) (image from “e-learning for agriculture and fisheries[1],” e-extension.gov.ph)

Training:
Via its website, https://ati.da.gov.ph/ati-main/,I see the ATI has evolved into a digital powerhouse of a school with training courses, my congratulations! (training image[2] from Frontline Recruitment)

Extension:
On its website, the ATI says, “A&F Extension Policies,” where A is Agriculture and F is Fisheries. Yet, the almost 600-word entry does not contain any Policy on Extension, only a list of laws & related matters that have given ATI powers.

If you ask me, Extension begins with science & technology stored in a Knowledge Bank. And I am convinced that such storehouse should regurgitate sets of texts & images combined from which a user or learner can choose to fit his/her need/s, with instructions on how to apply such knowledge options.

I have just written about Digital Extension – see my essay, “Science Going Digital For PH Farmers At UP Los Baños? My Dream Lives On With PhilEASNet![3]” (02 October 2020, Brave New World PH). PhilEASNet is the Philippine Extension & Advisory Services Network based at UP Los Baños. Today, I am urging both PhilEASNet and the ATI to talk seriously about Extension, about how technologies & systems may be extended to would-be/farmers and fishers. I believe that a common program with an excellent budget is realizable under the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. From my work from home, with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when he was Director General from 2000 to 2014, I know Mr Dar knows the extreme value of Extension.

While still DG of ICRISAT, in 2003 he submitted a proposal via PhilRice to set up the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA, a Knowledge Bank. I was then a PhilRice extension consultant. OpAPA should make a good starting point for a PhilEASNet-ATI collaboration. I am volunteering as an ambassador of goodwill with my e-book on how to intellectualize OpAPA.@517

 

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[1]http://e-extension.gov.ph/elearning/
[2]https://www.frontlinerecruitmentgroup.com/news/5-reasons-why-retail-staff-training-is-vital/44689/
[3]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2020/10/science-going-digital-for-ph-farmers-at.html

Science Going Digital For PH Farmers At UP Los Baños? My Dream Lives On With PhilEASNet!

Extension in Digital Form.

Less than 2 weeks ago, I wrote about my dream of a digital agriculture for my country involving UP Los Baños (19 September 2020, PH, Even Beyond The Du30 Terrestrial Lockdown To Sept 2021, UP Los Baños Needs Intellectual Release From The Silence Of Science!” Brave New World PH).

Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, came the webinar with the theme “Recalibrating Extension And Advisory Services For The New Normal” sponsored by the Philippine Extension & Advisory Services Network, PhilEASNet. Surprise! The digital handout said:

Dealing with this (coronavirus) health crisis… must be balanced with the important task of  EAS (extension and advisory services) – that is to provide farmers or farming communities with the right information, knowledge, skills, and technologies to efficiently produce food for the populace.

EAS takes care of the spread of information, knowledge, skills and technologies, yes – that takes care of Content. How do you take care of Form? That’s what I have been thinking of: Digital.

Everything must now be digital!
Digital Content in Digital Form = Digital Agriculture, the other DA.

Digital Content:
With that webinar, I can see that PhilEASNet already has the digital content and the digital extension of it mapped out. But not the form.

Digital Form:
The form I have in mind, since 17 years ago, is digital – in 2 languages: technical and popular. In response to now-Secretary of Agriculture William Dar when he was still Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, to his proposal Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA, in 2003 as an extension consultant at PhilRice, I wrote out a book on how to give flesh to OpAPA – I called it The Geography Of Knowledge, GK(GK is still intact; you can have a free pdf copy if you email me, frankahilario@gmail.com).

So you have a knowledge bank, a GK, and here is one entry in transplanting rice:

straight line – Ilocano, nalinteg a linya (with the explanation of why it should be straight). The language of the user is 50% of the GK.

Which is my expansion of this position of PhilEASNet, as the 3^rd aim of the webinar was this:

Provide principles in rebranding and recalibrating extension strategies and services, especially using the digital platform, to cope with the new normal/reality. (image of digital men[1] from LYFE)

“Especially using the digital platform” – that was music to my ears!

Adding to my pleasure was that the current headquarters of PhilEASNet is at the College of Public Affairs and Development, UPLB, my alma mater.

Says PhilEASNet of itself:

PhilEASNet is a national organization of extension professionals and practitioners who serve as partner advocates in creating avenues for continuing development of a cadre of morally responsible, competent, dedicated and self-directed experts in pursuit of advancing the theory and practice of extension.

New, Digital Agriculture, the other DA, means:
Extension cadres spreading Knowledge – that’s EAS;
Knowledge in digital form in the user’s language – that’s GK.
Isn’t that a Match Made in Extension Heaven!@517

 

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[1]https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/digital-marketing-vs-traditional-marketing/

Food Loss & Waste – Now Is The Time For All Food Men To Come To The Aid Of Their Country!

On 19 December 2019, the United Nations designated 29 September as the “International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.”Subsequently, on 29 September 2020, UP Los Baños via the Postharvest Horticulture Training & Research Center, PHTRC, under Director Dormi Del Carmen, held via Zoom the webinar “Food Loss and Waste Reduction Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.” (above bottom image) broadcast hosted by Information Technology Center of UPLB, here is the rationale of the webinar:

It is of paramount importance to reduce food loss and waste in order to reduce hunger and poverty and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Speakers at the webinar were, all ladies from UPLB: Elda B Esguerra, Professor of the Institute of Crop Science, and former PHTRC Director; Edralina P Serrano, also former PHTRC Director; and Lotis E Mopera, former Director, Institute of Food Science & Technology. Arnel A Apaga, Director of the Research Division of PhilMech, joined them.

Topmost image: ANN says that with their tomatoes rejected by traders, farmers of the town of Kalayaan in Laguna dumped their produce by the roadside (Author Not Named, 09 October 2018, “After Being Rejected, Farmers Forced To Throw Away Tons Of Surplus Tomatoes[1],” Coconuts Manila) Total food thrown? An estimated 10 tons worth P4 Million (US$80,000)!

Last year, “tons of produce dumped by the side of the road by frustrated farmers” in Luzon (05 June 2019, Frank A Hilario, “All Those Mangoes Should Have Been Sold Before They Were Even Produced!” THiNK Journalism). This year, another dumping of tons of tomatoes in the mountains of Luzon has been reported (04 July 2020, Frank A Hilario, “Why In PH Agriculture, Science Is Not Helping Journalism, & Journalism Is Not Helping Farming,” THiNK Journalism).

Actually, we know enough science to prevent food loss and food waste – except that application of such knowledge is the problem!

I say now:

The practice of Agriculture must continue to Food!
(That is why we have the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.)

To reduce food loss and waste, farm produce must undergo food processing. Miss Lotis says that “processing” means transforming raw materials or ingredients by physical or chemical methods. The process includes combining raw food ingredients to produce marketable food products. The steps include drying, freezing and canning.

I am reading and rereading from the UN the document “#FLWDay” that commemorates the International “Food Loss and Waste Awareness Day” – and I get the idea that:

We are un-intelligent when we separate food production from food loss and food waste!

I say it is the duty of farmers to produce food for a village. Corollary: It is the duty of villagers to serve and conserve food for everyone!

The just-concluded UP Los Baños postharvest webinar has reminded us that we have separated food from consumption. Because of that arbitrary separation, we have not seen how necessary it is to conserve food.

All that makes the Postharvest Scientists The New Guardians of the Universe in the Matter of Food!@517

 

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[1]https://coconuts.co/manila/news/rejected-farmers-forced-throw-away-tons-surplus-tomatoes/