PH Transformation – Via Ron Amos Jr’s “Cultural Revolution” Or Frank A Hilario’s “Agri-Cultural Revolution”?

Thursday morning, 29 April 2021, at about 0830 hours, I read Ron Amos Jr’s “The Need For A Cultural Revolution” as his “Transit Dialog” Facebook post, all 722 words excluding byline, and I have been moved to respond via this essay – because what Mr Amos is sharing is 100% problem and 0% solution!

Mr Amos says:

What we need is to reimagine and reinvent the country and ourselves: a cultural revolution that will create not only our identity but also our unified spirit. How we do it is by transitioning from the medieval age of rule by influence, wealth, creed, and power towards a society that willingly balances the individual and the community, freedom and restraint, and privileges and duties.

How do we do ALL that? Mr Amos is not saying. The best that he says towards a solution is this, “A Call To Action:”

So as not to point fingers, we all start within ourselves – our backyards, bloodlines, and even barkadas. Our leaders need a change of mind from preserving their status quo to favoring the people’s welfare; the people need to mature as responsible members of society.

Indefinable. Imprecise. Indefinite. Even God had to be specific as to what He wanted His people to do, and so He came up with The Ten Commandments! And we are still disobeying them.

Mr Amos says, “Has anyone noticed that force or periods of strife unified some of the most progressive nations today, such as The United States of America, China, the UK, and Japan?” Ah, Mr Amos, indeed they are progressive countries, but at the expense of hundreds of millions of people. We need to do more than those!

Mr Amos’ Cultural Revolution has set me to thinking about an Agri-Cultural Revolution – by Simultaneously Cultivating the Soil and the Mind.

Thus:

Farming begins by Cultivating the Soil. Today, we must learn to cultivate it in such a way as to allow the natural processes to work themselves out. Keeping the environment sound.

We must do trash farming to help the soil regenerate itself naturally – and the farms to produce much healthy foods and the farmers rewarded handsomely.

Living continues by Cultivating the Mind. We must financially assist farmers so that they avoid usury that denies them the fruits of their labor.

We must increase the efficiency of harvesting, postharvest handling, storage, and marketing of produce, so that farmers are not taken advantage of by merchants.

Community living is promoted by social justice. We must encourage farmers, villagers & others to become members of cooperatives and support farming via those coops. That is all the PH cultural revolution necessary – and it should be painless.

We have millions of farmers and their families; therefore, an Agri-Cultural Revolution that I have just summarized should catapult the Philippines into a country Filipinos would be happy about.

And all that falls within what Secretary of Agriculture William Dar  calls the New Thinking for Agriculture. We are on our way to the Promised Land!@517

The World Press Prize Rappler’s Maria Ressa Should Be Pursuing In Her Journalism

Let me deal with the YES first. Yes, CEO of Rappler Maria Ressa is going to receive a world-class award in a few days, the “UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2021.”

The source of the news is ANN (Author Not Named, “Rappler’s Maria Ressa Gets Prestigious UNESCO Press Freedom Award[1],” Rappler.com). UNESCO made the announcement on Tuesday, 27 April. She will receive the award on Sunday, 02 May – the World Press Freedom Day will be celebrated the day after, Monday, 03 May.

She won the World Press Freedom Prize for her previous & present “unerring fight for freedom of expression,” ANN says. She is “set to receive a prestigious press freedom prize from UNESCO for her fight for free speech in the Philippines, serving as a model for journalists under siege around the world.” The UNESCO prize, worth $25,000, “recognizes outstanding contributions to the defense or promotion of press freedom especially in the face of danger.”

Let me deal with the NO next. No, Maria Ressa is not going to receive the highest award she can get – because she has not set sight on it, and UNESCO has not thought of it. The award? I shall now invent and call it “The Good Press World Freedom Prize.” The prize is $1,000,000 (1 million). The Good Press Prize “recognizes outstanding contributions to the promotion of the public good in the face of hunger.”

On the one hand, the World Press Prize is earned by journalistic exposés – of course, that is accomplished “in the face of danger” because the journalist is digging out political dirt!

On the other hand, the Good Press Prize would be earned only with scientific and technological knowledge & tools exposed by development journalists. Maria Ressa is a journalist digging out the private bad, while what the world needs now are journalists digging out the public good!

In its own website, UNESCO itself says, “Information is a public good.” So why is it not sponsoring a world-wide competition among journalists for bringing out information for the public good and not for bringing out the politicians’ private bad? That is to say, UNESCO is missing its own message, or not listening to it!

I agree. Maria Ressa deserves the World Prize, according to the current yardstick of UNESCO. A brave lady.

If she changes perspective and goes after information as a public good? An intelligent lady.

Since I am an agriculturist, let me concentrate on that. I mean by “public good” any information about the technologies & systems for producing, postharvest handling, processing, storage and marketing of farm produce, that is, crops and animals – as well as fishery products.

Maria Ressa will then be espousing the fight in the Philippines for the public to be informed of discovered knowledge – scientific findings translated into popular language the people can see the need of and understand what they have to do for their own social good – she serving as model for journalists serving the public good around the world!@517

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[1]https://www.rappler.com/bulletin-board/maria-ressa-gets-unesco-press-freedom-award-2021?fbclid=IwAR2-BqC8JvIrxBtlBtTe7SxDncc0vXmhdt5bhh35hrma3Qz1ZcqZQiRfBxw

William Dar – “Push Agriculture Forward Via Science With A Filipino Face!”

When PH Secretary of Agriculture William Darwas Director General of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), January 2000-December 2014, ICRISAT’s slogan was, “Science with a human face.” (But this is getting ahead of our story.)

Above, dated 26 April 2021, Mr Dar presents his thoughts on “Sulong Pilipinas: Partners For Progress” (Push Forward Philippines) virtually in “A Pre-SONA Economic Development and Infrastructure Clusters Forum.”

Mr Dar says:

Despite no respite from the rage of the so-called “Perfect Storm,” the Department of Agriculture (DA) remains undaunted by the challenges confronting the farm and fishery sector(s), staying focused, believing that the current crisis also presents opportunities for innovation, transformation, and regeneration.

That is, amid the “Perfect Storm,” he says, in reference to climate change; what he is presenting via the DA is a system-wide Climate Change in PH Agriculture.

Mr Dar needs academic Education, national Exposure and international Experience – and he has all 3 Es in excellent forms – to successfully lead PH Agriculture in thriving such as amidst the current man-induced typhoon of disease duly denying demand doubly belabored by business bullying bureaucracy.

Mr Dar knew adversity from birth; his parents could not afford to send him to high school – lovingly, one of his uncles did. He went on to earn his BS degree in Ag Education and MS in Agronomy from Benguet State University, and his PhD in Horticulture from UP Los Baños. From there, he became the first Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research and later the Director General of the Philippine Council for Agriculture & Resources Research & Development. Then he became Secretary of Agriculture under President Joseph Estrada.

From the Philippines, he was in the middle of his 15 years being Director General of ICRISAT when “Climate Change” became the world’s byword because Al Gore and the Intergovernmental  Panel for Climate Change co-received the Nobel Peace Prize 2007. Mr Dar himself led ICRISAT, one among the 15 international agricultural research centers under the CGIAR Group, including IRRI, from dead last to #1.

So, if anyone could save our troubled PH Agriculture, he would have to come from Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, somebody named “William Dar.”

In his Sulong Pilipinas presentation, Mr Dar sees PH agriculture as resilient:

Agriculture was so made that a crisis always turns out as an opportunity for renewal. God designed it that way – crops will ripen, be harvested and die, but tomorrow will be another occasion for planting, recovery and renewal.

Planting, Recovery and Renewal are where Mr Dar excels.

On “Food Security As An Overarching Goal,” he says:

The food security imperative revolves around increasing our farm productivity to guarantee adequate food supply. However, availability of food at affordable prices to our consumers, particularly the poor, (must complete) the equation.

I doubt if you noticed. In my quote above, Mr Dar said, “The current crisis also presents opportunities for innovation, transformation, and regeneration.” With Mr Dar leading, we Filipinos will Innovate, Transform and Regenerate PH Agriculture using Science with a Filipino Face!@517

Innovation Is The Call Of The Times, But Not Rappler’s?

Above, on Facebook, Rappler is quoting, “While this shift seems to favor PR, in reality it has resulted in declining trust in news, and that’s bad for everyone.”

The caption of the image is the title of the article: “Stopping Misinformation Means Fixing The Relationship Between Journalism And PR[1],” which is a reprint from the Australian-led digital media The Conversation’s article by Canadian Jaigris Hodson dated 22 April 2021. The lead says, “While this shift seems to favor PR, in reality it has resulted in declining trust in news, and that’s bad for everyone.” Mr Hodson is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC. So? Australian, Canadian and Filipino thoughts in journalism: Same, same. New words, old ways.

Clearly, Rappler and The Conversation are worried about their journalism being taken over by public relations (PR), but they are not worried about their lack of public relevance (PR²) – my brainchild.

As a creative writer who has been in self-styled journalistic conversations in the last 45 years, such a common PR problem prevails. – because while they have innovated in their media, they have not innovated in their overall journalistic service to their countrymen!

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old” – Peter Drucker.

Until now, Rappler, not to mention the other PH media, print or digital – such as the Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Manila Standard, Manila Times and Philippine Star – every now and then dig dirt on prominent people to cast upon and cultivate their dirt-loving readers, and not dig holes to grow something new, green and/or gold!

I am sure both Rappler and The Conversation know what innovation is; and while their media have innovated from paper to screen, nevertheless, their journalism remains dated.

I say, the new slogan for all media should be “THiNK DiFFERENT!” That’s the acronym of this journalist’s new & long universal intellectual innovative initiative:

THiNK DiFFERENT:
Towards Holistic Information & New Knowledge for
Development Involving Families & Farms Enabling Resources with Ennobling New & Neutral Technologies

I say it is really the old PR giving rise to the new PR². It’s time to stop the balancing act of public relations and journalism!

Mr Hodson says:

In recent years, as a result of media consolidation and the rise of social media, the relationship between PR and journalism has shifted. While this shift seems to favor PR, in reality it has resulted in declining trust in news, and that’s bad for everyone. When the delicate balance between journalism and PR is upset, we end up with an information ecosystem that is less trustworthy because it is driven by organizational goals rather than the public interest.

What Mr Hodson is saying is that the old journalism is for the public interest but not for public relevance, not for further inclusive social and economic development.

Mr Hodson says, “Journalism jobs are precarious, financially insecure, and require family support.” Precisely, Mr Hodson, to get family support, journalists must now go beyond public relations and into public relevance!@517

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[1]https://www.rappler.com/world/global-affairs/stopping-misinformation-means-fixing-the-relationship-journalism-public-relations?tm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1XYkgmmKHlPUtp4cNmzr_5MVzrWz9-XFK7j2Q4BgZlXL14eSh4_IdbJ78#Echobox=1619367000

The PhilRice Drum Seeder Looked Good In April 2018 – Where Is It Now?

Above, top image, the Antique ricefield looks very promising in yield. Here is the story as shared on Facebook by PhilRice (my translation in English):

TINGNAN! Unang palayan sa Sta. Ana, Tibiao, Antique na natamnan ng 60kg binhi kada ektarya sa pamamagitan ng sabog-tanim.

Look! First ricefield in Santa Ana, Tibiao, Antique that was planted with 60 kg seeds per hectare by way of broadcasting.

Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon, natunghayan ng mga magsasaka sa nasabing lugar na kayang-kaya ang 60kg kada ektarya gamit ang seed spreader machine (granular applicator) at certified seeds mula sa RCEF.

For the first time ever, farmers in that area witnessed that 60 kg/ha is quite enough using a seed spreader machine (granular applicator) and certified seeds from RCEF.

Makikita sa larawan na magaganda ang naging tubo at mabubulas ang mga itinanim na palay.

What can be seen in the picture is beautiful growth of and robust rice plants.

Ayon sa ulat, namangha ang mga magsasaka rito na kaya pala ang 60 kg na certified seeds sa isang ektarya na palayan. Aminado sila na umaabot sa 160-240 kg na binhi ang isinasabog nila tuwing taniman at ito na ang kanilang nakasanayan.

According to the report, farmers here were surprised that 60 kg of certified rice seeds is enough for 1 ha for seeding. They admitted that they were using 160-240 kg of seeds to broadcast every planting season and that was their usual practice.

Makakamit kaya nila ang mas mataas na ani gamit ang mga teknolohiyang ipinakilala ng DA-PhilRice? Abangan ang update sa mga susunod na araw.

Can they achieve higher yields using the technology introduced by PhilRice? Watch for the update in the coming days.

News and photographs by ABIGAIL BATUTO, PhilRice Negros Techno Demo Officer

Me, I am not going to wait for the coming days. I have seen similar growth in ricefields before. My guess for the coming harvest is a minimum of 5 tons/ha.

My higher concern right now is the use of the seed spreader. I have yet to see one, but “seed spreader” means “seed broadcaster,” which means the seeds are scattered as they may be, not single seeds on single hills that I can imagine. Also, “sabog-tanim” means broadcasting, so there is no uniform distancing between hills.

PhilRice I know has a “plastic drum-seeder” – above, the lower image I took 18 April 2018 in a LAKBAY ARAL at PhilRice Los Baños – that can seed 1-1.5 ha/day with a spacing of 20 cm between rows and a seeding rate of 20-40 kg/ha.

I suppose Antique farmers had not heard of the PhilRice drum seeder, so that they could have saved an additional 30 kg/ha of seeds? That is the difference between broadcasting (by seed spreader) and direct planting (by drum seeder).

It has been 3 years since I took that photograph – don’t tell me that that PhilRice technology has not reached Antique after 36 months?

That tells me that either PhilRice must do more technology transfer work, or some farmers insist on their own technology!@517

 

“Hilarios’ iPod Touch” For Young Entrepreneurs. Son Advises: “Listen, Don’t Start Small!” Father Advises: “To Farm Rich, Start With Your Ears!”

Youth, I say, if you want to get rich, in any field from Agriculture to Zumba, you have to teach yourself wisely – by listening!
(recolored iPod image[1] from Shutterstock)

Why? On Facebook, 14 April 2021, my digital entrepreneur son Jomaris talking to anyone interested in becoming richer becoming a virtual careerist (VC), and I am surprised with his advice: “Why You Shouldn't Start Small.” And I thought: So shouldn’t young farmers.

Someone says, “Jomar, I want to start small in my journey to upgrade my mindset.” Jomar says, “That’s the thing most people, already living a small life, want – to start small & slow. Let me tell you. you’ve already done it.”

We have always been doing things small, so we remain what? Small. You have “to level up in mindset,” Jomar says. “You need to level up in action.” Why not simply read a Success Book? Because when you fail, you can’t repeat “Read another Success Book” – and expect a different result!

Jomar says, ‘The Success Journey is a Trip, not a Stop.”

To level up in mindset and succeed, you need to consider, Jomar says (with my purposive editing):

“What do you Want? How do you obtain your goals?”

If your goals are:
Literally freedom… Freedom of location. Freedom to choose what to do, when to do it, and with whom to do. Freedom to dream freely and fulfil those dreams. Freedom from worry. Freedom from insecurity…

You need a turning point.
You need to do something you haven’t done before.

Jomar says, “There’s got to be a New Source of Wisdom for you. And it’s got to be a Fountain Of Wisdom. You need an everlasting source of new wisdom straight into your ears.”

Like “Every time you wash the dishes.” How many times you wash the dishes is how many times you listen to wisdom. Jomar suggests an iPod. When one of his successful VCs washes the dishes, she puts on the iPod and enjoys herself learning some more! She washes off the dirt by her hands, drains off her ignorance by her ears.

Copying my son, I say for PH youth to get rich in farming, go buy each an iPod and listen & learn. The problem? What to put in the iPod, and where to get the auditory materials.

That is where the state colleges & universities (SCUs) must step in – before any young one can plunge into farming with promise. With financing from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the SCUs must prepare an extensive Audio Knowledge Bank on PH Agriculture, with countless technology & package options presented. So, I’m calling on Secretary of Agriculture William Dar to move the SCUs to move those youth to become farmers.

The Hilarios’ iPod Touch. Thus, while each youth is learning to become an agribiz whiz using not the eyes but the ears, s/he can do anything anywhere and enjoy both physical and mental worlds. A most intelligent way to learn!@517

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[1]https://www.shutterstock.com/search/listening+to+ipod?image_type=illustration

Credits To The ACPC On Its 34th Anniversary!

The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) is not preparing to celebrate its 34^th anniversary tomorrow, 25 April 2021? Nonetheless, here is my congratulatory note: From what I learned since 2012: ACPC, you are credible, creditable, incredible!

The Executive Director of ACPC today is Jocelyn Alma R Badiola. Here she is with an undated message on the ACPC website[1]:

The ACPC strives for continued improvement in our information and communication strategy, of which the ACPC Website (www.acpc.gov.ph) is an important component. The use of the Internet in attaining widespread dissemination of information is inarguably the most efficient and effective means today.

Yes Ma'am, as an old blogger I agree.

But I have a reservation about your publication titled Agri Finance Magazine. Your latest is the January-June 2020 issue. The last 2020 issue is not yet out, and as an Editor In Chief in the last 45 years, with digital skills that include writing, editing, photography, desktop publishing, I am now volunteering to help produce your July-December 2020 issue – just send me the materials: texts and images. Give me 2 weeks to finish.

I happen to know about the ACPC anniversary because I was hired to produce the coffee-table book The Filipino Farmer Is Bankable in celebration of the ACPC Silver Anniversary on 25 April 2012 by then-Executive Director Jovita Corpuz. It was a labor of love.

What the ACPC has been doing I know is a labor of love. Institutionally, it has been busy:

"ACPC Releases SURE Loan To 500 Cut Flower Farmers In Atok, Benguet” (08 May 2020) – Earlier today, the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC) commenced the releasing of Survival and Recovery (SURE) loans to 500 cut flower farmers in Atok being catered by the Topdac Multipurpose Cooperative (MPC) in km 32, Topdac, Atok, Benguet.

“KAYA Loan Program Kicks Off In Ilocos Norte” (03 April 2021) – The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) transferred an initial P20 million fund to two of its partner lending conduits in Ilocos Norte for the Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA) Program. Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar and ACPC Executive Director Jocelyn Alma Badiola led the ceremonial turnover of checks worth P10 million each.

“Sikat Saka Program (SSP)” – The Sikat Saka Program is an integrated financing program jointly implemented by the (ACPC) and Land Bank of the Philippines. The program aims to help more palay and corn farmers access timely, adequate, and affordable production credit and improve the viability of agricultural production by ensuring availability of irrigation services, extension, links to markets and providing a favorable economic environment.

Those are 3 of ACPC loan projects for farmers young and old. I do believe the ACPC is more active now than in the past, i.e., in response to national agri problems exacerbated by the coronavirus PH lockdown; and because of the leadership of the ACPC Chair, none other than Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. I am a member of the Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan – happy to know ACPC has coops at heart!@517

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[1]https://acpc.gov.ph/message-from-the-executive-director/

For PH Farm Families, An Innovation Gift From ACPC – “Hiram Na Ligaya” (Happiness ‘N Loan)

Angela Celis has come out with a Malaya report, “Innovation Should Focus On Agri To Sustain Growth” (22 April 2021), starting with these words: “Innovation work moving forward should focus on the agriculture and manufacturing sectors to sustain the country’s long-term economic growth, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).” 

Miss Angela is reporting on PH’s 1^stNational Innovation Day virtual event 21 April 2021; she quotes Karl Kendrick Chua, Director General of NEDA as saying:

Instead of simply assembling products and using ideas that were generated from other countries, we have to now gradually shift to a new framework where the ideas are coming from within the country, from within our human resources.

Mr Chua is saying something like this: “No borrowing of innovation from other countries. We Filipinos can do the innovating ourselves to bring about the next level of economic development.”

I agree. Then Mr Chua says, “We have several bright Filipinos working abroad, in other countries contributing, and I see no reason why they cannot come back and contribute.“

I disagree! I see every reason why we Filipinos residing in the Philippines right now can innovate for our farmers.

Now then, I have been thinking of what I call “Hiram Na Ligaya” (Happiness ‘N Loan). Hopefully, this will be a gift from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council(ACPC) – a loan arranged for by ACPC that may be as high as P1 million depending on the resources of each farm family.
(“Happiness On Loan” image[1]from Dada Bhagwan Foundation)

Loan Requirements: For the family to be able to avail of The Happiness Loan, the husband and wife must be bonafide and rules-abiding members of a legitimate cooperative in their village or town. The loan will be available digitally, via “The Happiness App,” exclusive to each family – “relative happiness.”

The Happiness Loan will make sure of the following:

(1)   Security:
It is actually the coop that is the keeper of the funds for The Happiness Loan for all coop members.

(2)   Programming:
The Happiness Loan will be made available via a digital app, The Happiness App. First in English, later, the app may be translated into major languages in the Philippines: Bisaya, Cebuano, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Muslim, Pangasinense, Tagalog etc.

(3)   Planning:
For each family, a separate digital family record vis-à-vis The Happiness Loan will be kept. Neither husband nor wife singly can transact any loan business without the knowledge and consent of the other. The husband and wife will then by necessity jointly plan their family loan considering farming and family needs.

(4)   Paper Record:
The request for a loan will be made in writing and signed by both husband and wife, after which it is sent to the coop for approval. 

(5)   No unnecessary partying:
The husband can no longer borrow at will for any impromptu partying with his friends at any time – the wife has to approve of each loan whatever the amount. The Happiness Loan is for the happiness of bothhusband and wife!@517

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[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvPK-H6BpwU

Science Reporting – Please Be Careful With My Art!

 

This note comes from me, not from American journalist Neil deGrasse Tyson; I just needed the sign “The problem with science journalism.” In America, they have different and bigger problems in journalism! We think big; they think Bigger.
(image[1] from Big Think)

Mentioning neither the name of the PH journalist here, nor sex, the news story is titled “DoST Bares 100 Completed Innovation Projects Amid Covid-19 Pandemic[2]” that appeared in the Manila Bulletinissue of 22 April 2021. (DoST is the Department of Science & Technology.)

It’s technically wrong.The journalistic mistake is right there in the headline of the story, in this phrase: “100 Completed Innovation Projects.” But you cannot fully appreciate the error in reporting unless you know more of the standard operating procedures (SOP) of science. Let me now quote the first paragraph (with editing):

The…Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) bared Thursday, April 22, the completion of a total of 100 research, development and innovation projects in the industry, energy, and emerging technologies sectors…

Note that the 100 science projects reported completed in 2020 are not 100% “innovation” but also “research and development (R&D).” R&D SOP requires they will go on under research towards full development of the technology, research not yet completed. In fact, the report says PCIEERD Executive Director Enrico Paringitsays:

Of the 100 completed projects, 15… are ready for technology transfer and commercialization, 16 for deployment to national government agencies, 41 for follow-up researches, 21 for crafting of policy recommendations, and seven under facilities, technology business incubators, and capacity building.

I don’t know about “deployment to national government agencies,” but I’m sure all the 100 are would-be innovation projects, but only 15 are now truly completed and ready for technology transfer – it’s not yet innovation when it’s not ready for technology transfer!

Mr Paringit made his institutional report during the initial & virtual opening of the 3-day Philippine Research, Development, and Innovation Conference (PRDIC), “the country’s first massive, online public presentation of research, development, and innovation projects in the industry, energy, and emerging technology sectors.”

And why was the PRDIC conjured? Mr Paringit says, “We initiated this event to keep the public abreast (of) the development of our cutting-edge solutions that (will help) us usher in the next wave of growth and prosperity. It is through science and technology that we can get our way out of this crisis.”

As a communicator for development, I agree; the PCIEERD is developing innovative technology solutions to bring the country to “the next wave of growth and prosperity” – but the science of reporting – not the fault of PCIEERD I must say – must be correct and accurate!

Now then, I am calling the attention of the Science Editor of the Manila Bulletin – and other Science Editors of other print and digital media – to mind their materials when it comes to science reporting. Today with digital media all over the place, in science, you can play with words and get away with it – but not for long!@517

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[1]https://bigthink.com/videos/writing-about-science

[2]https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/22/dost-bares-100-completed-innovation-projects-amid-covid-19-pandemic/?fbclid=IwAR2yWe_yNVsF1uhMG-x1gjomb_u2BnqLy2fwlCppdmN1MRPUHhe3Vvo2jwM

“Earth Day 2021” Is Too Big It’s Not Fillable! In The First Place, It’s Not Feelable

Today, Thursday, 22 April 2021, is designated worldwide as “Earth Day.” Did you know 2021 is 50 years since Earth Day 1970? Today is exactly half a century; what can we celebrate? Nothing to be proud of! Even the website earthday.orgis not celebrating, just listing the years of events or something. What we have is a static Earth Day!
(Original “Earth Day” image[1] from PNGhut.com)

“Earth Day 1970 gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet.” Now, 50 years later, that voice may be louder, but it’s still just a voice crying in the wilderness of nonchalance, non-science.

“30 years on, Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders a loud and clear message: Citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on global warming and clean energy.” Nothing doing.

“As in 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the environmental community to combat the cynicism of climate change deniers, well-funded oil lobbyists, reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental community with the collective power of global environmental activism.” That “environmental community” did not win any battle.

25,550 days since the beginning – and that’s all we can count: days! As my copywriter self is almost as old as Earth Day, 1974, with Tony Zorilla’s Pacifica Publicity Bureau with Nonoy Gallardo as Creative Director, I know that the Earth Day celebration was off-the-markright from the beginning:

There was no graspable symbol with which to identify one’s effort at celebrating or pushing for a magnificent Earth Day to come one day, no doable symbolization, no immediately measurable achievement to go after. No powerful slogan to move mountains in every energy-hungry country. So? Nothing to celebrate.

Is the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown good for Earth Day because of the restrictions in travel and, therefore, limited use of fossil fuels that give off climate change gases? Car owners will learn they can’t have their cake and eat it too. I hope so!

As an agriculturist, in agriculture, I can give you a measurable yardstick of whose results we can all be celebrating each year Earth Day, also known as “Climate Change” – non-use by farmers of chemical fertilizers, up to zero point zero. That would reduce much, much the climate change gases that go up the atmosphere every second of the day.

Is “Zero Chemical Fertilizers” doable? Absolutely! But no country in the world has done it, despite the scientific knowledge, because politicians – and academicians – are afraid of Big Brother chemical companies!

Fear is the enemy of freedom. You have the freedom to choose which fertilizer to use. How much organic fertilizer did you use today? You can ask that question any day of the year and you know you are contributing to the celebration of a Happy Earth Day sooner than 50 years!

But that is only for Agriculture. What about for the World at Large? Today, I cannot yet coin a slogan for Earth Day. The best is yet coin!@517

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[1]https://pnghut.com/search/celebrating-earth-day

ComDev – Taking Photographs Is Important. So Is Taking Care Of Them

Photographs are not only important in what I do – which is communication for development (ComDev) – they are necessary. You cannot communicate development without photographs!

Today, Friday, 16 April 2021, after about 3 hours, I finalized assigning to folders by subject matter my 21-year collection of digital photographs totaling 16,500 plus. In ComDev, which I invented in 1980, a creative writer must be a photographer himself.

Now, do you necessarily intently study how to compose each shot in taking a picture? Not if you have a digital camera like mine – Lumix FZ100  with Intelligent Auto (IA) – you just point and shoot. What about lighting and focus and speed? The IA takes care of all those. I bought my camera for P19K cash early 2012, and it’s still good. (In any case, it paid for itself immediately because I had a one-man contract to produce a coffee-table book – write, edit, take more photographs, do the layout up to desktop publishing next to commercial printing. That was the coffee-table book The Filipino Farmer Is Bankable to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC); that was when Jovita Corpuz was Executive Director of ACPC. About 90% of the text was mine; half the number of the images of that 144-page book also mine. The book’s total budget? P1M. Photography is joyful in more ways than one!

Meanwhile, on my Windows 10 background slideshow, I’m watching the changing of scenes on 2 screens: my Lenovo ThinkPad laptop, 14-inch screen, side by side with my external monitor ViewSonic, 20-inch screen. Both screens full photographs on close-ups, all those images mine. Enjoy!

Photography is a talent I began to add in 1975, when I was Editor In Chief of the 3 publications of the Forest Research Institute (FORI): monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitat, which I patterned after the American National Geographic. My team visited many places in the Philippines to collect images for those stories, articles and papers. In-between takes, I asked my FORI photographer about photography, and he was not selfish with his knowledge and experience. Later, I myself studied photography by reading pamphlets – and studying the great paintings of the old European masters for their composition, foreground, background, and “lighting” (highlights). Did anyone tell me to do that? I did.

(Note that I am self-taught as a creative writer, editor and layout artist in the old-fashioned way, from 1965 to 1985. On Innocents Day 1985, I began to teach myself digital writing (word processing) with WordStar v1. In 1987 or thereabouts, I began teaching myself Microsoft Wordv1; through the years Microsoft Officetaught me desktop publishing, including formatting and layouting of images, pages etcetera.)

I now have in a holding folder Photos Much, 17 subfolders of photographs, by name: Albay Mayon, Asingan, Church, Farm & Home, Hilario Family, Los Baños, Malvar Organics, Miscellaneous, My Room & Me, Native Animals Summit, PhilRice UPLB, Reunions, Rice & Rice, Rural Views, UPLB Campus, Villa De Acuzar, and Windows Collage.

Loving it all!@517

Secretary William Dar Dreams Of A PH Database On Agriculture, ADING – Perfect Match For OpAPA!

On 27 January 2021, the press release came out from the Department of Agriculture(DA) titled “DA Taps State Schools For Food Security Policy Research Projects[1],” data-gathering efforts commonly aiming at creating a regional database for agricultural and rural development, urgently for national food security.

The collaboration is another initiative of the DA under its Agriculture Dialogue and Information Network Groups (ADING) Program “that aims to further strengthen and improve public trust and confidence in the Department.” Note: “Ading” in Ilocano means “younger sibling.” Now, not only the aim but the name is perfect – I am thinking of the 17-year old proposal of Mr Dar himself that he called “Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture” (OpAPA), which he advocated in 2003 when he was still Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) – with ADING and OpAPA 2021, we have a family of science knowledge banks with Mr Dar as father!
(“Open Learning” image[2] from Frugalmomeh.com)

Under the partnership agreement, the DA will provide funding of P1.5 million to each of the state universities and colleges (SUCs) for data and information gathering on, among other things, (1) impact of DA’s programs on target communities, and (2) technology utilization by farmers and fishers in every region.

The University of the Philippines through the National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), through Project Team Leader Alex Brillantes, will lead the development of sampling design, research protocol, and data collection instruments that will be used by the SUCs in conducting their knowledge searches.

Separately thinking, once all the sets of data are in and processed into knowledge bits & pieces for Internet searches, in In my mind, OpAPA 2021 will answer all questions, English or Taglish, such as:

Which hybrid rice to plant? Where? How much? Whom to ask?

How do I save on expensive inputs: seeds, fertilizers, cultivation, spraying, harvesting, drying, marketing?

How can a cluster, association, cooperative help my farming?

Which vegetables, fruits, flowers are profitable to grow?

How can I farm if I don’t have enough money?

What do I do when I see a number of insects crawling on my rice plants?

What farm crops can be intercropped with a standing coconut grove?

I want to farm, but I don’t know anything about farming – where do I begin?

I fell in love with OpAPA the first time I saw her, sometime in 2003, when I was hired as a consultant for PhilRice. And I was so smitten that within a week or so, I wrote a book dedicated to bring her to life:

The Geography Of Knowledge. TGoK.

I still have an e_copy of that book, 198 pages, which I conceptualized and wrote all by myself. I submitted the whole manuscript to my direct boss – nameless here, forevermore – and nothing came out of it. I don’t think the PhilRice Executive Director ever saw it. Na-tigok!

With OpAPA 2021, Science with a development face should triumph in Philippine agriculture inclusive of the small farmers!@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-taps-state-schools-for-food-security-policy-research-projects/?fbclid=IwAR1_lZr3Wc8zbU1KWcRC_DadDXGBkrxid40gcK8T62jgWczWRIncjVAV5yA

[2]https://www.frugalmomeh.com/2014/09/education-flexibility-thompson-rivers-university-open-learning.html

Agri Science To The Test: “PH Rice At Any Cost!” – SRO

 

Heart & Earth: “Hearth of Agriculture.” That is my personal title for the mounted art you see above in a photograph I took 29 July 2016 at UP Los Baños. It’s actually a 4-piece sculpture that only now I see symbolizes the agri science needs of the 4 corners of the Philippines.

This essay has been prompted by a Facebook sharing today, Thursday, 15 April 2021 by retired but not-retiring UPLB Professor Teodoro Mendoza stating, “Am reposting this, that means I fully agree.” The author of the straightforward notes shared, Santiago R Obien (SRO), is the founding Executive Director of PhilRice and today is National Technical Adviser on Rice; I reproduce SRO with editing:

Let's Grow Our Own Rice, No Matter The Cost

I have always held the position that the Philippines must produce enough rice for all and keep a reserve for at least a 6-month supply.

Our Target: No reliance on imports for the staple food!

We have the technologies to do it.

What is needed is decisiveness on the part of government to invest.

We must produce rice as our staple food regardless of cost. We do not produce rice to compete with others – we do not sell rice, we don’t compete in the world market.

The Japanese cost of rice production is 3-4 times ours, but still they produce rice to meet their requirements. They don’t sell rice to other countries.

Let’s not bother ourselves too much that our cost of production is high, provided we produce enough for ourselves.

Forget competition. We produce our rice regardless of the cost.

It will be more expensive to import when the price goes up again above $1000 per ton! And again there will be limited supply.

SRO’s recommendation seems reasonable to me. As to the cost of going for rice self-sufficiency, it must not be at the expense of other crops – here’s how we can shoot 2 birds with 1 stone:

The Department of Agriculture (DA) comes up with a national contest among volunteer provincial government units (PGUs) to produce rice for national security. The DA arranges for all assistances: inputs, machineries, loans, everything.

“PH, Rise Rice!” is my name for the contest. After 2 seasons, the DA selects the Top 10 PGUs with the least costs but highest individual yields – and requires the remaining 71 PGUs to follow the examples of the Top 10. Rewards: Top 1 P10M, Top 2 P9M, Top 3 P8M, Top 4 P7M, Top 5 P6M, Top 6 P5M, Top 7 P4M, Top 8 P3M, Top 9 P2M, and Top 10 P1M. Consolation prizes, P500,000 for each losing PGU.

With “PH, Rise Rice!” we will out-compete the other countries in producing Masaganang Ani, Mataas Na Kita(Bountiful Harvest, Bounteous Income).

With Secretary of Agriculture William Daron top, with state colleges & universities assisting in the science-based national production of rice, and with UP Los Baños as Program Leading Institution, the Hearth will be a new and exciting journey in Philippine Agriculture.

Yes, the best is yet to come!@517

Communication For Development: Lessons In Photography As, Surprise, Lessons In Better Writing!

Writer Frank A Hilario is highly original, yes. Creative, he invented Communication for Development (ComDev) 40 years ago when he was Editor in Chief of Habitat, a deliberate look-alike of the American National Geographic, published by the Forest Research Institute based at UP Los Baños. Today, from him, you can improve your writing by learning a lesson or two in photography!

Now look closely at my photograph above, digitally transformed into 3 parts: trees, ground of grass, flowers. That’s how your story looks like usually: Promising but failing to deliver!

Inspired by Erniein Sesame Street, your first lesson in writing is that a story has 3 major parts: Beginning, Middle, End. Equivalents in your story: Foreground, Field, and Background.

Note that the Foreground should be Attractive – a mix of colors growing, as if celebrating their sight of the Field. In the above image, I clouded it up so that you will get the picture!

The usual news story today is either negative or shocking, vintage The Manila Times, founded by Thomas Gowan, an Englishman living in the Philippines. Wikipedia tells us “The paper was created to serve mainly the Americans who were sent to Manila to fight in the Spanish-American War[1].” So, the perspective of Times’ stories was “Fight!” To embolden soldiers and readers so they will ask for more. Peacetime, that’s bad journalism.

Time to apply my ComDev:

The Beginning of your story should be able to catch the reader’s attention by being positive, welcoming, if not colorful. Negative, shocking or threatening is the usual news story, opinion piece, or highlight of today’s media. You don’t need Creativity there – all you need is Negativity!

Importantly:

The Beginningshould be a problem that looks solvable, to be fulfilled when in the Middle.

The Middleof your story should be the encouraging narrative you want to relate, to which you attracted readers via your Beginning.

The Endof your story should be the denouement, the resolution of the unfolding story you told in the Middle.

If you started with an un/stated promise of good in your Beginning, the End should now go back to it and point to its fulfilment – or the promise of something good or better – or what else needs to be done to complete a beautiful picture.

Now, look at my unretouched photograph below. It’s a scene from the UP Los Baños campus, shot with a not-so-advanced Sony camera on 08 July 2007 at 0946 hours. The undivided, beautiful image I show here is to inspire you to write your beautiful news story, column or essay on Philippine agriculture.

One of the photography lessons Biju Arayakkeel gives in his “10 Storytelling Lessons From Photography[2]” (October 2020, Toastmaster.org) is this:

“As a storyteller, I want to share a compelling story that can touch the hearts of my audience, inspire them, and leave them with something to ponder and act on.”

Positive, Inspiring, if possible Creative. Go, ComDev, go!@517

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manila_Times

[2]https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2020/oct/storytelling-lessons-from-photography