The Golden Age of Philippine Agriculture is starting soon.
That is both a statement of confidence – and a challenge!
Yes, Ka Willie, we now have a proven leader, a Team Captain – and we ought to be working as a Team, together. If you did not know, it was the leadership of Director General William Dar of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, that led that institute from Last to First among the 15 international centers in the CGIAR group, and that includes the world-famous IRRI. ICRISAT loved him so much it did not let go of him as DG until he had to retire, after 15 years of team captainship. How do I know that? I was international consulting writer of ICRISAT in the last 8 years of Mr Dar's leadership.
"The Golden Age of Philippine Agriculture is starting soon." It only means, Ka Willie, that we have to contribute our head-heart-hands efforts for the overall achievement of that Golden Age.
On the topic of New Thinking for Agriculture right in his first column in the Manila Times (manilatimes.net), Mr Dar said:
Does the mere thought of doubling the income of smallholder farmers and fisherfolk sound too daunting or intimidating? ¶ From my standpoint, doubling the income of farmers is doable and should form the core for the "new thinking" to make the country's agriculture more productive, competitive and sustainable, and the country more food secure.
Double is Doable, Mr Dar is saying. Imagine, Ka Willie, if farmers' incomes doubled, from 100% to 200%. That indeed would be the start of the Golden Age of Philippine Agriculture!
In 2015, the average income of PH farm families was P100,000 a year, when the poverty line was P108,800 (11 April 2017, BusinessWorld, bworldonline.com). If that income jumped to P200,000 a year, we would have to say Agriculture Secretary William Dar was Heaven-sent! Not forgetting, of course, that agricultural development is not a one-man job.
Now then, I can only add to Mr Dar's New Thinking for Agriculture what I will now call New Team-Thinking for Agriculture.
When Mr Dar was DG of ICRISAT, he considered himself a Servant Leader (see my essay, "William Dar Dares. The 4 Elements of ICRISAT's Success" (04 September 2019, iCRiSAT Watch, icrisatwatch.blogspot.com), where I also said about ICRISAT the team:
When it comes to an institution, it's the team members who do make it happen – or do not. And when it comes to any team, it's the captain who leads them to victory, or defeat…
We want Victory in Philippine Agriculture, do we not? We do not want Defeat, to suffer longer.
So? Follow the Servant Leader!@517
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