This Writer Sees, “When Farm Groups Go Up, Up Goes The Nation!” Kadiwa Is A Godsend – Whose Idea Do You Think?

National recovery is a prime concern of the Du30 Administration, and this is visible in the latest joint move of government agencies to generate wealth via production of food from lands and waters, with financial support for farmers and fishers, as well as improvement of tourism economics.

ANN says “DA, NEDA, DTI, Other Gov’t Agencies Join Forces Towards National Recovery” (Author Not Named, 25 Jan 2022, DA.gov.ph):

Looking beyond the global economic slowdown… Philippine government agencies forged an alliance towards recovery and rebuilding the country’s economy under the Task Group on Economic Recovery – National Employment Recovery Strategy (TGER-NERS).

The TGER-NERS virtual press conference was held 18 Jan 2022 with cabinet secretaries Karl Kendrick Chua (National Economic Development Authority), Ramon Lopez (Department of Trade & Industry), and Berna Romulo-Puyat (Department of Tourism) sharing their agencies’ energized economic & employment plans.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar “presented the continuing efforts of the DA in partnership with the local government units (LGUs), private sector, and farmers’ and fisherfolk’s cooperatives and associations (FCAs) in attaining the national food security goals of the Duterte administration.”

I note the DA’s emphasis on cultivating partnerships with other government departments, LGUs, the private sector, and FCAs. Previous heads of the DA failed to see the intrinsic value of partnerships.

Mr Dar cited the DA’s initiative “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” (“Kindred Spirits in Harvest & Income” – Frank’s translation):

To make food affordable and accessible to the public, and strengthen markets for our farmers and fisherfolk, the DA has implemented nationwide the Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita marketing program.

Louise Maureen Simeon says this modern Kadiwa is “a collaborative project of the DA, Department of Interior & Local Government and Food Terminal Inc (15 Sept 2019, “Government Revives Marcos-Era Stores,” PhilStar Global):

The Kadiwa store system was originally introduced by… President Ferdinand Marcos to help bring down the prices of agricultural commodities. It was also implemented by (President Joseph Estrada).

Kadiwa is a marketing lesson from Apo Ferdi. A good idea should never be allowed to die – especially for the common good!

Mr Dar said, “The initiative that directly links farmers with consumers is a win-win strategy, benefitting both food producers and consumers.”

Today’s Kadiwa stores began rolling out March 2020. As of 15 Dec 2021, Kadiwa stores had catered to 1.5 million households with food produced by 38,383 farmers and fishers around the country.

ANN says:

In the remaining months of the Duterte administration, the DA Kadiwa marketing program aims to serve more clients – roughly 3,000 individuals and 100,000 households per month.

I see Kadiwa as an anti-profiteering program to restrain the desires of merchants to extract pounds of flesh from consumers Shylock-like.

The DA through its Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) has also extended financial support to small farmers and fishers, as well as the youth engaged in agribusinesses.

With TGER-NERS in full swing, I foresee the Philippine economy will respond with a TIGERGER - Ilocano word that suggests a positive trembling in excitement!@517

Fighting Climate Change: Reinventing Agroforestry Into “Regenerative Agroforestry” – Frank A Hilario, Philippines, 15Jan22

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Yes, we are hopeful when it comes to meeting the challenges of climate change that brings super-typhoons like Odette – we can blunt the winds and absorb the rains by behaving intelligently with our farms and gardens. I am looking at a science I have just reinvented and now call Regenerative Agroforestry (RegenAgro). Growing the soil first, followed by growing food & wood at the same time in the same place. Farm & Forest In One.

Invented pre-1900s, time to reinvent Agroforestry! On this subject, American experts Gary Bentrup and Kate MacFarland, both of the USDA National Agroforestry Center, write (June 2020, FS.usda.gov):

Adapting to climate change requires a comprehensive approach that involves public and private lands. Agroforestry is the intentional mixing of trees and shrubs into crop and animal production systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. This private land management approach provides opportunities for shared stewardship on agricultural and forested lands, including those adjacent to public lands. Agroforestry allows land managers to integrate productivity and profitability with environmental stewardship that will contribute to healthy and sustainable landscapes.

Mr Bentrup & Ms Kate are telling us that to combat climate change, we need to involve public & private properties with a common approach: agroforestry. We grow trees along with crops and animals in the same location for the good and goods they bring to the surroundings, our residences and business places. They say that thus, agroforestry enables us to “contribute to healthy and sustainable landscapes.”

“Sustainable landscapes” – I want more! Instead of sustainable agroforestry (SustainAgro), we can make farms & fields beyond sustainable via my reinvention: regenerative agroforestry (RegenAgro).

What’s the difference? Sustainable is being technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable – while regenerative goes beyond sustainable, encouraging & supporting regrowths of biological elements: soil, all kinds of plants and organisms that by simply living their lives promote biological growth of other species, from microorganisms (such as viruses & bacteria) to macroorganisms (earthworms). When the invisible and visible creatures grow in farm or field, they renew the soil, and thus begins the revival of the whole area, up to and including the trees.

Anytime, RegenAgro beats SustainAgro! A whole village comes alive!

Contrast:
Agroforestry brings us 2 major items: food and wood.
Agriculture brings us only food.
Forestry brings us only wood.

The above image of “Agroforest” from the USDA is a beautiful combined illustration of the uses and/or values of an agroforest or mini-forest: (a) alley cropping, (b) windbreaks, (c) riparian forest buffers, (d) silvipasture, and (e) forest farming – where “alley cropping” is planting a crop in-between rows of another crop, “riparian” refers to the bank of a stream, and “silvipasture” means “forest” plus “grazing.”

While we await for the whole civilized world to work out as one in curbing climate change, let us practice Regenerative Agroforestry. Let us cultivate in the city and countryside farm-forests for protecting ourselves from typhoons – in the meanwhile enjoying the ambiance and good food showing up in the in-between different crops growing with delight!@517

UP System: The Trouble With Teachers Is That The Learners Know Better!

This is a teacher speaking, an agriculturist, UP '65 (BSA Ag Edu), a Civil Service Professional (80.6%), wide reader, natural-born thinker and self-taught creative writer – I pity grade schoolers, high schoolers and college students who are forced to learn by rote, to memorize without understanding. Happened to me!

“Teaching-Learning” image from Timeshighereducation.com)

I am a farmer’s son; naturally, my favorite people are the farmers, male. Today, how do we teach farmers? Mostly by telling them who, what, where, when, why, how, and how long. We expect them to simply listen and obey. They are half-empty vessels of existence that must be filled up with knowledge.

I am reading a Facebook post by my alma mater UP Los Baños: “ILC Is Now The Center For The Advancement Of Teaching And Learning” (13 Jan 2022, UPLB.edu.ph), that which says:

UP President Danilo L Concepcion approved the proposal of UPLB to pilot the expansion of the mandate of the Interactive Learning Center (ILC) through its reorganization into the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL). This was after the UP President’s Advisory Council (PAC) endorsed for President Concepcion’s approval… the “Pilot Expansion of the Mandate of the UPLB ILC and its Reorganization as the CATL, consolidating the Functions of Various UPLB Committees to Improve Teaching and Learning.” President Concepcion approved this endorsement on 03 Dec 2021.

Googling, this is the first time I learn that UP Diliman itself has an ILC. Now then, from a clear single mandate of “interactive learning” to a double mandate of “teaching and learning” – the UP System has in effect and in fact reinvented education into 2 separate activities:

Teaching on the part of the teacher and
Learning on the part of the student –
2 distinct, separate activities.
With the UPLB ILC becoming the CATL, the UP System has reinvented education. This teacher now ask: Is that good or bad for the Philippine Educational System? After all, UP is the National University System.

As a mere citizen, I cannot disapprove of this seemingly-simple-but-actually-complicated educational move by my alma mater UP, but I do not approve of it either! To separate the teaching from the learning is to separate the teacher from the learner, no ifs and buts.

As a UP-taught teacher and a self-taught creative thinker, I have come to realize that, as the title of my essay puts it, “The Trouble With Teachers Is That The Learners Know Better!” The teachers teach by rote; the learners learn by understanding – and the teachers have never learned from the learners how to teach!

“Advancement Of Teaching And Learning.” UP wants to advance the use of digital tools in teaching, which is good, but UP is separating the use of digital tools in learning, which is bad!

UP Diliman: Above, the superimposed image I got from the ILC Diliman Facebook post is “Inc” as it is, but the words are clear about what they are trying to display: “Upgrade to Interactive.”

UPLB: “Forget Interactive.”

FAH: “What is the UP System trying to prove!?”@517

In PH Agriculture As Elsewhere, We Need Badly A Paradigm Shift From Grey To Green!

“Innovation is the hobgoblin of little minds” – to sharpen an old saw by Ralph Waldo Emerson. That is why I love it that Manila Times columnist Fermin Adriano has written: “Agricultural development, even at the very beginning of mankind, only occurs whenever innovation is introduced” (13 Jan 2022, “Agriculture And Technology,” Manilatimes.net).

Emerson has been one of my American favorite writers-philosophers. Status quo is preferred by people to something new and different. From Mr Adriano’s standpoint, I will carry innovation farther & further in the matter of Climate Change, our planet’s persistent perturbing phenomenon.

While above image illustrates “Issues with Pixel Editor/Zooming” (Esri.com ), I see it as a graphic & dramatic shout to stop global warming: Change the grey to green!

Already, I was a Global Cooling warrior writer several months before Al Gore & the Inter-Governmental Panel for Climate Change co-won the Nobel Peace Prize 2007, especially since I began to appreciate the differing roles of “Adaptation” and “Mitigation.” In my 14-year old essay, “The Yankee Dawdle. On Discovery Sorghum, The Great Climate Crop,” 04 February 2007, iCRiSAT Watch), at the very least I pointed out a necessary Paradigm Shift:

Paradigm: Science with a human face.
Shift: From grey to green.

More than less, Mr Adriano is calling for more innovation in PH Agriculture, which happens to be under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, a known international science innovator since his 15-year success being Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). In fact, from Mr Dar’s ICRISAT slogan comes that paradigm above: “Science with a human face.”

Even more so now, I believe we need that paradigm shift; as Mr Adriano quotes from University of Minnesota professors Yujiro Hayami and Vernon Ruttan, who co-authored the paper "Induced Innovation In Agricultural Development" at the University Minnesota, USA, with these 2 theses:

One is that agricultural development, even at the very beginning of mankind, only occurs whenever innovation is introduced.

Two, if the state invests in the appropriate technology to improve agricultural productivity, then the agricultural development process in the country will be accelerated.

The innovation I want adopted & adapted in all Philippines is regenerative agriculture – for this, I brainchilded just last year, 2021, the blog RegINA Queen Mother Earth.

A cultivated soil is grey; a regenerated soil is green. To regenerate agriculture, we must regenerate as much as possible the growing conditions when open lands are left to fend for themselves naturally.

With my RegINA, I hope to convince more & more people, Filipinos and foreigners alike, to change their conventional or inorganic agriculture to Regenerative Agriculture. This one is at least getting popular, as shown in being shortened to regenagri by foreign farmers such as Agri-Tech Centres from the UK, and regen ag by Regen Ag Book Club from the US.

I did not know it then but today, yes, regenerative agriculture is the paradigm shift I was calling for 14 years ago to be the international induced innovation: “From grey to green!”@517

Digital PH – Finance Dept Urging Digital For LGUs, Why Not ATI Travelling The Information Superhighway?

ANN says Secretary of Finance Carlos G Dominguez says, “We have seen the future and it’s fully electronic” (Author Not Named, 14 Dec 2021, ”Dominguez To LGUs: Boost Revenue Generation Through Digitalization,” DoF.gov.ph). He is minding mining the wealth of data discovered, discussed & displayed:

(Secretary) Dominguez has called on local government units (LGUs) to adopt digital technologies in tax administration and their other business processes in order for them to build their revenue generation and mobilization capabilities under the new normal…

He is saying LGUs can generate much more financing for themselves via electronic means. When they are willing and ready to learn, the DoF will gladly assist them:

(He) assured local executives that the Department of Finance… and its attached agency – the Bureau of Local Government Finance… – are prepared to support their respective LGUs in modernizing and professionalizing the local treasury and assessment service, and in helping them with their digital transition initiatives.

I’ll drink to that! my favorite Nescafé Brown. I am a work from home extension man except in name, starting last year engaged in what I have conceived as communication for village development 2021 (CoViD21) – and Mr Dominguez has set me thinking about the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) under new Director Rosana P Mula, ATI being an agency under the Department of Agriculture (DA), which is headed by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar.

Training via ATI has always been radio-based, and now with the information superhighway, knowledge can travel lightning fast. I want to revive Mr Dar’s 2004 Philippine Knowledge Bank proposal when still Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT); he called his brainchild “Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA).” I was an OpAPA consultant, and that is how I found out. ICRISAT is very much alive but, let me put it this way, “OpAPA perished along the information highway itself!”

Now then, let me entice Ms Mula with this thought: With knowledge available anytime on the Internet, knowledge will show incredible power to anyone who taps it and uses it for good, better, best.

Today we can reinvent OpAPA as “ATIn Ito” or “ATI Information Network In Trade Options,” learning materials in crops, livestock & industry available via the Internet, pointing out opportunities and obstacles, inputs to outputs, processes & products, costs & returns.

To explain, below is my brainchild “CoViD21_Information_Highway” scrambled list of crops A to Z, with search results highlighted by different text colors – this is also a convenient analogy in itself of the Knowledge Bank:

garlicavocadobananawaterlilycabbagecarrotcassavamangochayotechicocorncitrusverbenacoconutcoffeecowpeatobaccodurianeggplantgrapejackfruitindigosoybeanzinniajutekapokabacalanzoneslimabeannutmegonionpechayyampotatopomelocacaoquininerambutansantolstrawberryhorseradishsweetpotatotamarindricecaimitotomatomangosteenumbrellapinexiguafig

Searched & automatically unscrambled, among other things, ATIn Ito shows you which crop/s to grow in location/s under which circumstance/s. ATIn Ito is a DA open library to provide information on those crops and their planting, cultivation, irrigation, fertilization, harvesting, postharvest handling, storage, processing products, marketing etc. (The original idea-book I wrote for OpAPA can be a starting point.)

Its website says ATI today is “more committed to (bringing) you extension services beyond boundaries.” Today I add: “Digital is perfect!”@517

Young Harry Osboken, Igorot – “Winning Isn’t Everything, But Wanting To Win Is”

2017, failed. 2018, “PanLok Sweets,” failed; “Dalikan Food Terminal,” also failed. 2020, “Dalikan Restaurant,” failed. 2021, “Dalikan Food Terminal,” failed. Harry Osboken failed again and again – but he never gave up. He never got fed up with his foods!

“Dalikan” is Igorot/Ilocano for “stove” or “fireplace.” Where there’s fire, find fine food! ANN says “Igorot Entrepreneur Won 1st Nat’l Kabataang Agribiz, Received Half Million Grant” (Author Not Named, 11 Jan 2022, WowCordillera.com). That’s Harry. With Dalikan, finally Harry has stopped being a loser and begun being a winner. To win, you have to believe in yourself.

Perhaps, Harry learned from famous Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers to 7 American football league championships, who said, “A winner never quits, a quitter never wins.” He also said, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” Well, Harry never stopped wanting to win – and he won the 6^th time as #1!

Above photo was taken during the Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) National Summit and Awarding ceremony; from left to right are Harry Osboken (YFC National Awardee), Ramon Yedra (Director of AMAS), and Shawnie Dale Bitso (YFC Regional Awardee). AMAS is the Agribusiness & Marketing Assistance Service of the Department of Agriculture (DA). AMAS is the sponsor of Kabataang Agribiz (youth in agribusiness), where Harry won. According to the PH Youth-Building Act (1994), youth is aged 15-30 years.

Harry said during the awarding in Calasiao, Pangasinan:

I’d like to thank DA for this wonderful opportunity. From the highlands, we (the youth) seek opportunities in agriculture. We are very grateful for the chance given to us to develop our business and to be able to express our ideas.

AMAS was launched in April 2021. ANN says the DA’s Kabataang Agribiz program “aims to encourage the younger generation to put up ventures in line with agricultural development and food production.”

Why choose Calasiao as venue for the Kabataang Agribiz national awards? No explanation is given, but here’s something interesting: The word “Calasiao” (Pangasinense) means "a place where lightning frequently occurs” (Pangasinan.gov.ph). The Agribiz awards were for sparks of genius from the youth proven productive. Although incidentally, inspirationally Calasiao was a perfect venue. In nature, National Geographic says, “Lightning Makes Mushrooms Multiply” (10 April 2010, Nationalgeographic.com). Sparks of inspiration bring fulfilment.

ANN says Harry was also given an additional P300,000 grant. Now I add it all up: He received P50,000 as provincial winner; in the next stage of the competition, as regional winner he received P150,000. Therefore, Harry has so far received from AMAS a total of P500,000, or half a million pesos. Bonanza! He said in Calasiao, “We thank you hugely (my free translation) for giving us the chance to be able to develop our business and to be able to express our ideas.”

The source of funds is the Grant Assistance Program (GAP) of the DA’s Kabataang Agribiz. I see that this is the HUGE GAP that fills a HUGE NEED! In the Philippines, it has happened only in the time of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar.@517

Surprise: Young Ilocos Norte Gov MJ Marcos Manotoc Knows Good Governance, Minds Farmers’ Agribusiness!

Agdayawak kenni Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph Marcos Manotoc ta matarusanna iti salun-at ti daga. I give honor to young Manotoc for understanding soil health. More, I much appreciate that he knows the business of agriculture!

Above image shows him addressing the “10-Ha Hybrid Rice Model Farm Harvest Festival Cum Techno Forum” 04 March 2020 at Laoag City (06-03-2020, Leilani G Adriano, “Ilocos Norte Rice Farmers Urged To Diversify Crops,” PNA.gov.ph). He is urging farmers “to shift to (other) high-value crops (HVC) and engage in agribusiness to increase productivity.” This was when 34 farmer-cooperators harvested a high average 8.6t/ha at the rice model farm sponsored by hybrid rice companies.

Mr Manotoc’s message: High yield of hybrid rice is good – the returns from other HVCs make it much better!

Also from Laoag City, Ms Leilanie says (10-01-2022, “Ilocos Norte Sets P6-M to Improve Soil Health,” PNA.gov.ph):

The province… earmarked PHP6 million for the purchase of organic fertilizers and soil conditioners to help farmers restore soil health conditions and ensure a good quality harvest. Ma Theresa Bacnat, Officer-In-Charge of the Provincial Agriculture Office… said improving soil fertility is among the achievements of the agriculture sector under (Gov Manotoc).

As an agriculturist (UP '65) and in the last 21 years a wide-ranging roamer of the Internet for subjects to blog, I say a provincial governor appreciating soil fertility enough to allot P6,000,000 public funds for organic fertilizers tells me Mr Manotoc truly cares about agriculture that enriches soils and farmers naturally!

About healthy soils, Ms Adriano says:

While the province remains one of the top producers of palay and garlic, among others, Manotoc said farmers can have a better chance to earn more if they have a healthy and productive farm lot while minimizing the use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides in the long run.

In Ilocos Norte, long live organic farming!

Mr Manotoc is competitive when it comes to Ilocos Norte’s farmers and their rice produce.

“We are not producing enough relative to the land (size),” (Mr Manotoc) said, underscoring the need to assist more farmers to acquire farm machinery, improve soil fertility, and undertake clustering for the mass production of other high-value crops.

I especially note: (1) acquiring farm machinery, (2) improving soil fertility, and (3) farm clustering for growing other HVCs. Mr Manotoc has imbibed the mantra of “OneDA” serving millions of farmers, under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, head of the Department of Agriculture (DA) with its attached agencies.

Under the Ilocos Norte government’s soil restoration program, the agriculture office continues to advocate good agricultural practices… Instead of burning farm wastes, farmers are encouraged to collect these and let them decay (into) humus. Humus is known to improve soil structure and drainage as it holds moisture and provides nutrients to the soil.

On his part, Gov MJ Marcos Manotoc is providing rich natural nutrients to the impoverished soil of provincial governance in the Philippines! Although from another province, Pangasinan, as an Ilocano with my grandfather’s La Union origins, I am “Ilocano Proud.”@517

Abacadabra! Neither Filipino Males Need Magic Growing Abaca, Nor Females Weaving Products

I got this abacadabra intuition from reading the Department of Agriculture (DA) report titled “‘OneDA Family’ 2021 Yearender: DA To Further Prop Up Exports Of Banana, Pineapple, Other High-Value Crops” (DA.gov.ph). As a recently self-appointed communicator for village development 2021 (CoViD21), I am especially exultant that the DA pursued last year 2 major abaca PH initiatives, both in Catanduanes.

“Initiatives” implies that the DA started last year focusing on abaca as an added high-value crop (HVC). Meanwhile, what has DA to report on the other HVCs? ANN says (Author Not Named, 08 Jan 2022, DA.gov.ph):

Banana and pineapple rank as the country’s top agriculture exports, aside from coconut oil and other coconut products. In 2019 alone, Philippine banana exports reached $1.95 billion (B), $1.64 B in 2020, and roughly $920 million (M) (Jan-Oct) 2021, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority…. Exports of pineapple products (canned, juice, concentrates) amounted to more than $300 M (Jan-Oct).

I note that those figures are in American dollars ($), P50/1$. The DA report continues:

With such huge earnings, the (DA) aims to sustainably increase the production of the two major Philippine fruits, including other traditional and emerging high-value crops that have export potentials and thus could give farmers higher incomes.

CoViD21: Abaca is my favorite HVC that only now the DA, under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, is giving very high budgetary assistance (vHBA). On this, Mr Dar says:

This year, the “OneDA Family” will continue to encourage more farmers to shift to crops that are more sturdy, resilient, and with ready market, thus more profitable. This in addition to providing them production support, postharvest facilities, and value-adding mechanisms to make Philippine farm and fishery products more globally competitive.

I see vHBA as not an empty hope because the DA is providing farmers the necessary loans and postharvest facilities, among other things, to help make their products “more globally competitive.”

After all, ANN says:

The Philippines does not only have a comparative advantage in abaca or “Manila hemp,” but has the distinction as the world’s largest and leading producer, supplying 85 percent of global requirements.

So, we have the native crop, we have the captive market!

That’s why I’m recommending vHBA for abaca, whose products can be home-produced: bags, fabrics, furniture (main image above).
(abaca flower image from Britannica.com)

So, this CoViD21 warrior writer expects for abaca from now on nothing short of like this:

In 2021, the (DA) provided farmers… the following support services and assistance, in terms of: production; extension, education and training; research and development…; agricultural machinery, equipment, and facilities; and irrigation equipment and systems.

More is called for:

(Mr Dar called on) “OneDA Family” agencies to be aggressive in forging partnerships with the private sector, fruit and vegetable industry associations, and farmers’ groups to expand and explore other potential export markets, and come up with more innovative and attractive packaging, and marketing strategies.

From now on, with vHBA implemented, I will have my eyes set on the visual beauty & enriching experiences with Musa textilis Nee!@517

How To Wake Up Your Genius: For Good Or Better Or Best, Tap Your Intuition!

Let me start this essay on genius by saying we all are geniuses – we just do not know how to awaken the genius in us!

Have you heard of Harvard professor Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI)? MI lists down 9 intelligences, or geniuses, or smarts: bodily-kinesthetic, existential, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, logical, musical, naturalistic, and visual-spatial.

So what is 15-year old Nepalese genius Aashish Jung Kunwar saying about the British genius Sir Isaac Newton in “A Tribute To The Supreme Genius And Most Enigmatic Character In The History Of Science: Sir Issac Newton” (04 Jan 2022, imajk.medium.com)? That appears in his own blog “Aashish Jung Kunwar” – notice the mistake? “Issac” should be spelled “Isaac.” This Nepalese genius does not check his own writing! I have created hundreds of blogs; I have committed errors, but I never made a mistake in spelling the name of a person I admire in the title of the article itself!

I’m not surprised, as Nepal is not known to be an English-speaking country. Even so, the very title of his article and he does not notice the error?!

Genius on genius, on Tuesday, 04 Jan, that young Nepalese genius says (edited):

On this day (in) 1643, a great physicist, mathematician, astronomer, theologian, philosopher and author was born, (Isaac) Newton, the greatest man to ever grace the world of science…

Newton’s fame grew even more after his death, as many of his contemporaries proclaimed him the greatest genius who ever lived.

Newton: “the greatest genius who ever lived” – I genius do not think so! Nepal’s young genius himself says:

Of course, Newton was proven wrong on some of his key assumptions. In the 20th century, Albert Einstein would overturn Newton’s concept of the universe, stating that space, distance and motion were not absolute but relative and that the universe was more fantastic than Newton had ever conceived.

See?

Genius is more fantastic than this Nepalese genius has ever conceived!

In answering the question, “Who was smarter, Einstein or Newton?” (Quora.com), Peter says, “(Newton’s) Principia is really the book that said, ‘We can solve science problems through math.’” Therefore, I genius say Einstein was smarter, because Newton could only handle scientific thought already brought out, while Einstein greatly used intuition, which I think is the real mark of genius. So, Einstein did not arrive at his Theory of Relativity by logic – he intuited it first.

Ruth Umoh says (29 Jun 2017, “Steve Jobs And Albert Einstein Both Attributed Their Extraordinary Success To This Personality Trait,” cnbc.com):

Steve Jobs… Albert Einstein… both the visionary co-founder of Apple and the most influential physicist of the 20th century agree that one trait was at the heart of their success: intuition.

Einstein and Jobs, entirely different fields, exactly the same path of genius: Intuition. The secret of how I have so far blogged 7 million+ essays totaling 7 million+ words is that I learned to use my intuition. How to invoke your intuition? Wait till I come out with my digital magazine!@517

Income Security For Farmers! My 1Million-Peso Challenge To ACPC & PhilRice Pursuing Regenerative Agriculture

“Yes,” I said essentially Thursday, PhilRice succeeded in its mandate of rice sufficiency, with the wise leadership of Executive Director Santiago R Obien (SRO) – but it should have been given the mandate of food security.
(“Aim for the moon” image from Sleepinggeeks.com)

That was essentially what I said 06 Jan 2022, in my essay: “Why PhilRice Was Not More Fruitful – Because It Was More Faithful” (RegINA, Queen Mother Earth”). SRO was unhappy with it. Now I’m changing my mind, upping the ante, as the expression goes – I want more for more and better, so I have a new mandate for PhilRice & the whole world:

Income security for farmers!

Above, 6+ years ago, I took the original photo on 09 August 2015 at the premises of the Aramal-Tocok FFF Multi-Purpose Cooperative in San Fabian, Pangasinan. I was then an extension consultant for the Department of Agrarian Reform with the team leadership of UPLB Professor Rene Rafael C Espino. The photo shows my love object, the rotavator with its counter-cutting blades pulled by a big-wheel tractor to cut into and prepare the soil for planting (see my essay, “Cultivating The Soil, Raising Animals” (07 Feb 2016, A Magazine Called Love).

This is not an empty challenge. Since I am the one daring, and since my hometown is Asingan, Pangasinan and is close enough to the Science City of Muñoz where PhilRice headquarters is located, I now call on the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) for a loan of P1.57M and on PhilRice to prepare at least 2 ha of farmland for the side-by-side planting of the same hybrid rice variety, with differing experimental treatments:

PhilRice’s Plot
Give it the works! PhilRice chooses its favorite farmer to oversee the growing of rice in this plot; whatever-however they decide to do, it doesn’t matter to me.

Hilario’s Plot
“Mulching Matilda” Agriculture: No plowing, no harrowing, no flooding, no leveling, no transplanting, no fertilizing, no irrigating, no spraying of any chemical. Planting by seeder, following System of Rice Intensification (SRI). (Earlier, I explained Mulching Matilda in my essay, “PH Farmers Want Cost Of Fertilizer Way Down – Much Better, Yield & Net Income Way Up!” RegINA, Queen Mother Earth.)

Mine will be a 5-year revolutionary experiment, the first in the world. With the ACPC loan, I will live in Maligaya for 5 years to watch over my Mulching Matilda plots. Yes, these plots are essentially of regenerative agriculture – Mulching Matilda’s very first act is designed to revive the soil (check out my blog, RegINA, Queen Mother Earth).

With the ACPC loan, also I will build the world’s first-ever digital Knowledge Bank on Regenerative Agriculture, starting with whatever I will be doing for and on that Hilario’s Plot. An iPad would be an excellent recorder.

Income security for the farmer and resource security for the soil – and both must be recurring.

The national goal for “food security” is nice; here I call for “income security,” a different national challenge.

“Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” – Pop Smoke.@517

Why PhilRice Was Not More Fruitful – Because It Was More Faithful

I can now explain the performance of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in matters of national welfare: Concentrating on one commodity, PhilRice has been more faithful to its roots and that is why it has not been more fruitful!

Friday, 05 November 2021, in the Facebook sharing of Levie Isha, the above caption says: “Established 05 November 1985 – Philippine Rice Research Institute – as response of President Ferdinand Marcos to make the Philippines bountiful in rice” (my translation). That was via Executive Order 1061, s1985[1]:

WHEREAS, rice is the most important crop in the country, being the staple food of eighty (80%) percent of the population, and rice farming is a major source of employment in the rural sector.

The other Whereases point to the following:

(1)   “Substantial progress in the “use of high-yielding cultivars, fertilizers, pesticides and judicious water management, has been achieved in the country.”

(2)   “Continuous emergence of new problems of biological and socio-economic nature.”

(3)   “Problems in rice productivity are further aggravated by the rising costs of farm inputs and by the continuous reduction of per capita cultivated land.”

And setting up PhilRice would “unify the efforts of various agencies and institutions working on rice research and development to generate an in-depth approach to the present and future problems specific to the Philippines.”

And so, with the wise leadership of Santiago R Obien (SRO) as Executive Director, PhilRice rose from unknown to world class, and this was phenomenal because of the presence in Los Baños of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) that was richly funded in dollars by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations and already 25 years old at that time.

Via the EO, PhilRice had these:

Purposes and Objectives. – The Institute shall develop, in coordination with the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB), a national rice research program so as to sustain and further improve the gains already made in rice production, improve the income and economic condition of small rice farmers, expand employment opportunities in the rural areas, and ultimately promote the general welfare of the people through self-sufficiency in rice production.

“Self-sufficiency” – yes. Today, I can see the “gentle contradiction” in those words, as it mandates PhilRice to “ultimately promote the general welfare of the people through self-sufficiency in rice.” That is to say, the EO saw the main objective of PhilRice bringing the Philippines to self-sufficiency in rice alone.

Unfortunately, rice self-sufficiency was an insufficient long-term target, as has been proven by history in the last 36 years since the birth of PhilRice.

I believe the ideal target of PhilRice should have been Food Security, which would have mandated PhilRice to “improve the income and economic condition of small rice farmers, expand employment opportunities in the rural areas, and ultimately promote the general welfare of the people” not limited to rice sufficiency.

That is to say, PhilRice could have been even more successful in carrying out its duties following its avowed mandate – if it was for food security, not limited to rice sufficiency.@517

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[1]https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1985/11/05/executive-order-no-1061-s-1985/

PCA Will Save The Coco Industry, Granting Many Public & Private Groups Will Help!

Look, PRRD signed Republic Act (RA) 11524 on 26 February 2021. This is the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act with an initial P75Billion coconut levy. The report says the Department of Agriculture (DA) and attached agencies under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, have started implementing the law – are other agencies and the coco leaders and their farmers now working with their hearts and hands to help make it a national success?

According to ANN (Author Not Named, 03 Jan 2022, “’OneDA Family 2021 Yearender: Coco Farmers, Industry Law: Game-Changer, Catalyzer,” Da.gov.ph), Mr Dar says:

The crafting and implementation of (RA 11524) is a game-changer that would catalyze the modernization and industrialization of the coconut sector, and increase the productivity and incomes of millions of marginal coconut farmers and their families.

ANN further says the national efforts will be dictated by the Coconut Farmers & Industry Development Plan (CFIDP) in the next 5 years. Under the CFIDP, the following programs will be pursued, led by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), an agency of the DA:

(1)   Hybridization;

(2)   Farm improvement thru intercropping systems;

(3)   Animal integration;

(4)   Establishment of shared facilities for rural processing ventures;

(5)   Provision of social protection;

(6)   Empowerment of coconut farmers’ organizations/cooperatives on entrepreneurship;

(7)   Provision of credit and market support services;

(8)   Infrastructure development; and

(9)   Conduct (of) innovative research and policy studies.

I particularly note what PCA Administrator Benjamin Madrigal Jr says about those 9 in the list:

These programs (are being) implemented by respective agencies, each pursuing a plan, strategies, criteria in selecting beneficiaries, and allocation as approved by the CFIDP-Trust Fund Management Committee… to ensure proper fund utilization.

Among more interesting developments:

The PCA, in coordination with the other members of the National Biofuel Board – continuously exerts efforts to implement the mandated increase in the use of coco methyl ester biofuel blend from 2% to 5%.

Domestic & international marketing efforts of coconut products have been intensified. 55 potential investors have been secured for 7 emerging technologies with an initial investment of P4.3M. Agribusiness matching sessions have been held with 78 exporters, processors and suppliers. 15 seed farms have been set up all over the country. Marketing and promotion have been deepened to enhance domestic and international demands for coconut products.

As a warrior writer and a self-recruit to Regenerative Agriculture (RegenA), as an agriculturist (UP '65) and, starting 2021, a self-recruit combative communicator for Collaborative Village Development 2021 (CoViD21) as well as for RegenA, I note gladly that the Coco Roadmap calls for those 9 things, which I discern contain elements for village development as well as RegenA.

Right now, I am particularly interested in “(9) Conduct of innovative research and policy studies.” Hereby:

I am encouraging the state colleges & universities (SCUs) to also conduct studies on RegenA, because I strongly believe that this is the right thing to do to combat climate change. From the P75Billion total RA budget, SCUs’ R&D efforts could contribute new knowledge including, hopefully, on regenerative agriculture.@517

DA Maps Out Asian Swine Fever And Corn – Animals Need Care, Also Need Cereal

A good animal husbandman plans both for his swine herd and/or poultry flock along with their respective nutrition – the sciences of raising pigs and chickens must be considered along with the economics of their food systems that both necessarily involve corn.

He is a poor manager who does not consider the sciences and economics of swine & poultry husbandries at the same time with the science and economics of corn production. With the threat of the Asian Swine Fever (ASF), the animals need the care while they also need the corn.

In PH news, ANN says (02 Jan 2022, “Propping Up Corn Production, Controlling ASF To Revive Livestock, Poultry Sector[1],” DA.gov.ph):

The Department of Agriculture (DA) – in partnership with farmers' cooperatives and associations (FCAs), local government units (LGUs), and key industry players – is bent on enhancing the production of corn, the country's second main staple, and more importantly as an integral part of the meat value chain or food system.

Partnering with FCAs, LGUs and industry players – a vital program component of the DA under the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, who assumed office in August 2019. The DA is “enhancing the production of corn” because this cereal is “an integral part of the meat value chain or food system.” As a good manager, you have to think in terms of systems.

So, why is the DA worried about corn? It’s Supply meeting Demand.

Much is yet to be done, however, as the country's sufficiency level, particularly of yellow corn, currently stands at only 59%.

For 2021, total corn production was projected to 8.24 MMT, where 72% (5.92 MMT) is yellow corn (YC), mainly for animal feeds, and 28% (2.32 MMT) is white corn (WC).

Note: WC is the staple of people in Central Visayas and some parts of Mindanao; it also goes to snacks, according to Director Milo De Los Reyes of the DA National Corn Program (NCP).

With its P1.52 Billion 2021 budget, the NCP undertook the following interventions:

• Distributed 99 units of machinery and equipment – including tractors, combine harvesters and corn planters – to 57 FCAs in corn and cassava production; and 257 units of postharvest-machinery and equipment and facilities – including corn mill, hammer mill, recirculating dryer, corn sheller, multi-crop drying pavement, and seed storage facilities –  to 203 FCAs.

• Installed 269 engine pump sets for open source and shallow tube wells for 251 FCAs cultivating 1,035 ha.

• Conducted 322 trainings on production and postharvest technologies for 8,329 farmers and agricultural extension workers.

• Controlled fall armyworm infestation, funded under Bayanihan II at P100M, in 15,290 ha, benefitting 52,488 corn farmers.

• Provided marketing assistance to 188 corn and cassava FCAs cultivating 54,789 ha nationwide.

Finally, the NCP and the Yellow Corn Roadmap Development Team reviewed and finalized the National Yellow Corn Industry Roadmap, in consultation with corn and livestock industry stakeholders and the PCAF national banner program committee on poultry, livestock and corn, on September 10 and October 26, 2021.

Without a Roadmap, you don’t know where you’re going!@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/oneda-family-2021-yearender-propping-up-corn-production-controlling-asf-to-revive-livestock-poultry-sector/

“Coastal Greenbelts” & “Village Greenfields” – Villagers’ Hope From Villagers’ Help

There coastal greenbelts, here village greenfields. How green is my valley? And yours? Science will show the way, but villagers must bring about the growths of greenfields – down here, up there and beyond. God helps those who help themselves!

Via a Facebook sharing, here comes the call from Jurgenne Primavera, internationally known as “Mother of Mangroves[1]” from the Philippines: “Marine Scientist Presses Creation Of ‘Coastal Greenbelts’ To Cushion Typhoon Impacts[2]” (Bong S Sarmiento, 24 Dec 2021, MindaNews, Mindanews.com).

According to Mr Sarmiento, Ms Jurgenne “has pushed anew the need to legislate the creation of ‘coastal greenbelts’ across the Philippines in the wake of the devastation (brought about) by typhoon ‘Odette’ (international name: ‘Rai’).” Many deaths and much destruction in the Visayas.

We have to be proactive. Ms Mangrove emphasizes “The need to legislate the creation of ‘coastal greenbelts’ across the Philippines.” Calling on our senators and congressmen! 1^st Climate Champion and now PH Congressman Joey Salceda, please lead the way in Congress!

In congruence, this journalist’s call, no less urgent: The need to legislate the cultivation of “village greenfields” in the valleys.

Those “village greenfields” (my idea, inspired by Ms Jurgenne), are nothing but the farms and fields already there but practicing, as they must be, regenerative agriculture (my new advocacy, since 2019; see my essay, “F.A.H. – Which Science Can Save The World Now From Climate Change?” 05 May 2019, RegINA, Queen Mother Earth, Blogspot.com). My advocacy of regenerative agriculture is only 2 years old? Better late than never!

With your crop, you generate the green; to regenerate in each village a “Village Greenfield” as I call it, each farm must practice “minimum tillage” – season after season, the less you cultivate the soil, the more it will become naturally richer in organic matter.

Ms Jurgenne says:

We have to move from disaster response to resilience, specifically coastal resilience… for a country yearly blighted by 20 storms, which make landfall where the sea meets the sand, meaning on the beach lining most of our 36,300-km long coastlines. So we need coastal greenbelts.

Who is speaking? Ms Jurgenne, who was named by TIME Magazine “Hero of the Environment” in 2008 for her science-based works in mangrove conservation. She says, “The coastal greenbelts were needed by the (Philippines) decades ago.”

The valley image above is my photograph taken 17 Sept 2010 with the Canon PowerShot A450 that my children gifted me on my birthday at 70. The red flowers tell me my heart must be bold for village greenfields.

As of today, even PH government responses to Odette destruction and deaths are inadequate. “We have to move from disaster response to resilience” – while we wait for legislative action, we must do what we can.

Simultaneously, if we practice the minimum requirement of regenerative agriculture, which is minimum tillage, in all those millions of hectares of farmlands in the Philippines, the great effect would be immediately felt in the villages – much, much cooler local weather.

Ah, seeing floral reds in our minds, we have to help ourselves!@517

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[1]https://stewards.globallandscapesforum.org/wetlands/1814/interview-with-jurgenne-primavera-the-mother-of-mangroves-in-the-philippines-and-a-time-hero-of-the-environment/

[2]https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2021/12/marine-scientist-presses-creation-of-coastal-greenbelts-to-cushion-typhoon-impacts/?fbclid=IwAR1jjkcNnhgMmRgMlQIn7x7aLlh6cJf8E-z3_mO0CFy18PTHzzigGbauAzU