13/10/2019

Can The Old PAJ Help The New DA Overcome The Current Crisis In PH Agriculture?


The rice crisis rises from the prices. The top image comes from Ateneo Economics, wordpress.com; images below of Philippine Agricultural Journalists Inc, PAJ, members visiting the new Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie. The PAJ is involved in the crisis but it does not realize it yet.

In crisis, age does notmatter! PAJ was founded in 1976, making it 43 years old; the DA was founded in 1898, making it 121 years old. Under Manong Willie, the 3-month old DA has encountered so many problems now – in relation to modern Philippine agriculture, while:

The PAJ is unaware of its own problems yet!

In 1976, I Frank A Hilario was one of the founding members of the PAJ. Someone else, never mind who, proposed some PAJ awards, but it was my Binhi Awards, binhi for seeds or starters, that was approved and initially funded by Teodoro F Valencia, the Dean of Filipino Journalists at that time.

I have just visited PAJ's Facebook page and website, and there is nothing about past accomplishments and current activities. From the very sparse entries into those pages, I can see that the PAJ is not into the digital world, and that is a pity!

Today, the Facebook sharing of Johnny Goloyugo says the officers and members of the Board of Directors of PAJ called on Manong Willie on 10 October 2019 to inform him of the 2019 Binhi Awards. The note says "Secretary Dar underlined government steps in addressing various issues affecting the agriculture sector and expressed full support to PAJ's various programs."

Now, I note the irony of that. It is the DA expressing support to PAJ and not the other way around!

Not surprisingly, as PAJ has never been known to promote and pursue a single PH aggie program or project. And that is the point of this little essay:

May the PAJ wake up to the reality of the digital world and become development journalists more than publishing articles every now and then and holding the Binhi Awards every year.

For PAJ, with several self-taught digital skills I already have, I am willing to conduct a DA-sponsored 1-week workshop in journalism, where I can demonstrate enjoyable creative writing using a word processor, digital photography, editing and blogging. Except sex, no subject verboten.

Yes, aside from being digital, to be able to contribute to the development of PH Agriculture at this time, the PAJ should now begin to learn more about "The Eight Paradigms" of Manong Willie, which are all part of "the new thinking in agriculture." For starters, any member of the PAJ can email me for a free copy of my literal-literary ebook titled in Paradigms Lost, in Paradigms Regained. I wrote all 79 short essays and produced that 269-page book May-September this year, to celebrate being 79.

Unless the PAJ members imbibe in their psyche those 8 paradigms, I cannot see how they can contribute much to help Manong Willie wage the war against poverty of farmers and fishers!@517

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