Can United State Research Save PH Agriculture? William Dar Hopes So

Even as a farmer's son and an agriculturist, I am the eternal optimist when it comes to PH farming. Above photo is one I took at 6:31 AM on 30 March 2019 at the demo fields on the occasion of the 8th National Rice Technology Forum in Asingan, Pangasinan – I look at both the light and shadow. They are growing hybrid rices, plural. They are growing hopes.

William Dar has just come out with his Manila Times column, "SCUs And Unifying R&D Efforts" Part 1 (09 May 2019, manilatimes.net). The title indirectly points to the lackof united state research & development efforts in the Philippines. Scattered efforts is the way to go if you don't want to go anywhere but there!

The SCUs are the state colleges & universities of the Philippines, all government-funded, and they all carry out R&D activities one way or the other. Which is exactly the problem!

Mr Dar is thinking of, on one hand, the Bureau of Agricultural Research, the BAR, which is under the Department of Agriculture, DA; and on the other hand, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic & Natural Resources Research & Development, PCAARRD, which is under the Department of Science & Technology, DoST. Just reading those 51 words can confuse you!

"Now, the tough question is," Mr Dar asks, "who takes the (aggie R&D) lead in the country so the efforts and resources SCUs invest for research would have an impact?"

I will now list down 10 of our SCUs I know: Benguet State University, Mariano Marcos State University, Pangasinan State University, Isabela State University, Bulacan State University, Central Luzon State University, Pampanga State Agricultural University, Tarlac State University, Batangas State University, Cavite State University, and UP Los Baños  – there are actually 114 SCUs according to the Commission on Higher Education, as quoted by Merlina Hernando-Malipot (17 May 2017, Manila Bulletin, news.mb.com.ph).

Back to the question of unifying aggie R&D in this country: Who will lead?

Mr Dar is being diplomatic when he says the BAR and PCAARRD "could share leadership in (aggie R&D) by having a shared research agenda and even control public investments in agricultural research to avoid, among others, duplication and conflict in research efforts."

I see the need for a "research roadmap," an agreed-upon common ground plan of action. Then, he says:

In tandem with extension agencies, the two institutions should also take the lead in putting in place innovation, which should be about "invention + commercialization."

You invent and sell. What do you intend to innovate and commercialize? In R&D, Mr Dar says:

This means a new research paradigm of being "demand-driven" should be put in place, with technologies that have commercial potential getting priority funding for research.

He is referring mostly to high-value crops with export potentials like coffee, cacao, banana and pineapple, corn and sugarcane. Remember, "demand-driven" and not driven by the inertia of centuries.

Me, following all that, I want to point out here our national mistake when it comes to aggie business:

Rice is too much demand-driven!517

Rice Tariffication – We Are All Dying, Says A Pangasinan Farmer

Shared email from Rex Navarro sharing a link to Gabriel Cardinoza's news piece, "Farmers Troop To NFA As Palay Prices Drop" (08 May 2019, Inquirer.Net, newsinfo.inquirer.net). There, Mr Cardinoza quotes Oftociano Manalo, former president of the Pangasinan Federation of Irrigators' Association, saying: 

"Farmers will all die soon. We will no longer get out of poverty because of our loans."

And why is that? The Rice Tariffication Law, RA 11203, signed by Du30 last February, "opened the country to unimpeded importation of cheap rice that has been flooding the local market."

Differently, I'm not blaming Du30 – I'm blaming his Secretary of Agriculture for not coming to the rescue of our rice farmers!

I'm not blaming Senator Cynthia Villar either – we have to follow the World Trade Organization and pass that law. (image above from freefarm.org)

In his Manila Times columns, former Secretary of Agriculture William Dar has been recommending steps to save our rice farmers from the scarification of tariffication.

I speak for myself. In my blog Journalism for Development, I have singlehandedly written 23 essays about RA 11203 and how best we can help our farmers (count them now)!

"Rice Tariffication For Businessmen, Price Scarification For Farmers," 19February, blogspot.com

"PH RA 11203 – Rescuing Agriculture 11th Hour By 2 Agencies In 3 Steps," 20February, blogspot.com

"With Rice Tarrification: World Trade Okay, Filipino Farmers Fucked?" 21February, blogspot.com

"PH Rice Tariffication & Palayabangan – Rice Boosting Or Boasting?" 21February, blogspot.com

"InangLupa Movement – In PH Agriculture, Competitiveness Is Key," 22February, blogspot.com

"RA 11203 – We Need The Rice Fund Now, Today!," 23February, blogspot.com

"Solita Collas-Monsod, How Could You? Thank You, Manny Piñol!" 23February, blogspot.com

"Good Seeds, Good Science, Bad System – PH Rice Today!" 01March, blogspot.com

"PH Rice: Competitiveness Is #1 Priority; Collective Action Is Urgent!" 02March, blogspot.com

"Why RA 11203 Is Dangerous To Rice Farmers And What PhilRice Can Do About It," 04March, blogspot.com

"With/Out Government Support, PH Farmers Can Become Competitive With Organic SRI," 06March, blogspot.com

"PhilRice, How About Listening To The Ladies & Making Filipino Farmers Much Happier?" 07March, blogspot.com

"Changing Farmers, The Price Of Rice & Asean Competitiveness," 09March, blogspot.com

"PH Finance Dept – RA 11203 Supports Farmers & Cooperatives! Farmers Say: "But Not What We Need!"09March, blogspot.com

"PH Rice Tariffication Law – Billions For Buildup, But Not One Cent For Business!" 10March, blogspot.com

"Win! Kunana," 12March, blogspot.com

"Vs RA 11203 – Where Is PhilRice's Palayabangan Boosting_Boasting?" 13March, blogspot.com

"Hybrid Rice & Palayabangan & PH Rice Farmers' Asean Competitiveness," 13March, blogspot.com

"Multiplier Palayabangan – I Challenge Senatorial Candidates To Act Against RA 11203," 15March, blogspot.com

"PH Farms Suffering Billions From El Niño Because "We Never Learn" – William Dar," 28March, blogspot.com

"PH – Growing More Rice, Growing For Less," 05April, blogspot.com

"PH Rice Tarrification & The New WEN Journalism," 07April, blogspot.com

"We Are Not Rallying Behind Our Rice Farmers! – William Dar," 12April, blogspot.com

Within 53 days, I wrote 23 intellectual pleadings for the Department of Agriculture, DA, to help rice farmers lower their cost of production from P12 to P6 – to no avail. It seems to me the DA is listening only to its own voices!517

F.A.H. – Which Science Can Save The World Now From Climate Change?

Forestry. 

The Tree Lovers say, "We must plant trillions more trees!"

Agriculture.
The Land Lovers say, "We must practice more organic farming!"

Horticulture.
The Garden Lovers say, "We must plant more gardens!"

THiNK!

Forestry is it?

Tree Lovers insist that we must plant more trees – millions, billions, trillions. Wikipedia tells me there are now 4 countries that have planted billions of trees (en.wikipedia.org):

2.8 Billion China
2.1 Billion India
1.7 Billion Ethiopia
1 Billion Pakistan

The United States is 12th, with 315 Million trees. The total is 14.2 Billion plus trees planted as of 2016, or 3 years ago.

Question: Now, why is the world still growing warmer and warmer?

Answer: It's not the trees! No matter how much carbon dioxide trees convert to wood, it's not enough. They are not doing enough because they cannot. In the first place, those "trees planted" are not trees yet – they are either seeds, seedlings or saplings.g Slow-to-grow trees cannot save the world from climate change!

Actually, I have written against relying on trees to fight climate change; see my last essay, "Planting Trees Will Not Save Us – Here's Why From Harvard & Stockholm Universities" (04 May 2019, Journalism for Development, blogspot.com).

Agriculture is it?

Land Lovers insist that we must practice any combination of the below: biodynamic farming, minimum tillage, organic farming, permaculture, regenerative farming, trash farming, rainwater harvesting, and zero tillage.

ANN says about "Crop Production" of Manitoba (2013, climatechangeconnection.org):

A focus needs to be on the implementation of farming practices that develop soil health, exercise sustainable nutrient management and encourage environmental sustainability. Manitoba agriculture is in a good position to influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, because farming practices can be modified to become part of the climate change solution.

"Farming can be modified to become part of the climate change solution" – I don't want part answers; i'm looking for complete solution(s)!

Differently, I have been advocating organic agriculture since 3 years ago; read my essay, "The Enemy Within: Nitrous Oxide, Not Carbon Dioxide!" (20 June 2016, Creative Thinkering, blogspot.com). Because organic means no nitrous oxide from no nitrogenous fertilizers. But I have since changed my mind when I began to think that even organic farming leaves out so much bare soil absorbing and reflecting the sun's heat. Global warming.

Horticulture is it?
Yes!

I Garden Lover insist that we must plant gardens of any combination of the below: flowers, fruits, fruit trees, medicinals, ornamentals, and vegetables. Plant a garden anywhere, any size, anywhere you find bare soil. This is what I call The Greening Revolution (see my essay, "The Greening Revolution! This Is How To Defeat Climate Change!" 24 February 2019, Journalism for Development, blogspot.com). The Greening Revolution means no bare soil left behind, no vacant lot unplanted, no farm planted with bare in-betweens of crops. Creepers on the ground, crops standing tall, shade trees; this is multi-layer carbon sequestration.

How can You help save the world from climate change?
Plant any green anywhere but plant!517

Planting Trees Will Not Save Us – Here's Why From Harvard & Stockholm Universities

The universities of Harvard and Stockholm are not saying it, but I am. 

Jeff McMahonwrites, "We Have Five Years To Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says" (15 January 2018, forbes.com, link shared by Romy Quiñones today, 03 May 2019). That means we have already lost 1 year of the 5 years to save ourselves!

Echoing James Anderson, Harvard Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Mr McMahon says:

Recovery is all but impossible… without a World War II-style transformation of industry – an acceleration of the effort to halt carbon pollution and remove it from the atmosphere…

That is to say: Stop using all carbon-polluting devices and start removing all carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Now!

I believe I know exactly how we can accelerate world efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But the world thinks differently:

Plant trees!
Millions of trees.
Billions of trees.
Trillions of trees.

Ha! If what Harvard scientist Mr Anderson is correct that we have only 5 years left – from January 2018 – then, we don't have time to wait for trees to grow!

Like I'm always saying in my blogging, you cannot plant a tree; you can plant only a seed, seedling, or sapling. What you plant cannot become a tree overnight. Now, given Mr Anderson's timeframe of 5 years, 4 years remaining, how can you rely on "planting trees" to save the Earth when it takes 30 to 40 years before the trees mature & matter?

So now I repeat here what I have been espousing since early this year, what I call The Greening Revolution(see my essay, "The Greening Revolution! This Is How To Defeat Climate Change!" 24 February 2019, Journalism for Development, blogspot.com). In that essay, I say there it's not the trees but the leaves that capture the carbon dioxide, CO2, from the air. And all kinds of plants have green leaves, all carbon sinks. So, I said, we all must "Think Green!"

What Mr Anderson is saying is my final argument against planting trees to combat climate change – we don't have the years to wait for seeds or seedlings or saplings to grow into trees to fight climate change!

Here comes Bonar Laureto sharing the link where a team of scientists led by Will Steffen of the Stockholm University are saying, "Planet At Risk Of Heading Towards 'Hothouse Earth' State" (ANN, 06 August 2018, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, stockholmresilience.org). They are saying that to avoid Hothouse Earth "requires a redirection of human actions from exploitation to stewardship of the Earth system."

As one, the Stockholm team is saying that to avoid Hothouse Earth, we need not only reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but "also enhancement and/or creation of new biological carbon stores… and technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground."

Perfect! The simplest way for all of us to do all that is to plant a garden in all bare spots in the cities and cover all bare farms with green. Not plant trees: Plant green!517

Crowd Farming – Is The Philippines Ready For It?

William Dar writes, "Is PH Agriculture Ready For Industry 4.0? Part 2" (02 May 2019, Manila Times, manilatimes.net). Here, he reiterates what he has written in that earlier column (Part 1); here, I refer to Industrial Revolution 4.0 as iR4:

I suggest four approaches in "technologizing" agriculture under (iR4): producing differently using new techniques; using new technologies to bring food production to consumers; increasing efficiencies in the food chain; and incorporating cross-industry technologies and applications.

I have accepted and written about the 4 (see my earlier short essay, "PH Agriculture: Is Modern Technology The Answer? No, It's Modern Thinking!" (26 April 2019, Manila Times, blogspot.com). I was trying to say, "Use systems thinking!"

Here comes Mr Dar advocating among other things, crowd farming – I'm a wide reader, but this is the first time I heard of it. (Above image of the concept of crowd farming is from bing.com.) He says of it:

For food sharing and crowd farming, technology has enabled communities to share their goods and services, resulting in minimum or zero food wastage. Ride-sharing and house-sharing are already industry norms, and the application of technology in farming can result in food-sharing and crowd farming.

CrowdFarming says about it (ANN, undated, crowdfarming.com):

(Crowd farming) is a new, transparent and sustainable way to source your food: adopt a tree, an animal or part of a garden, receive fresh food cultivated just for you straight from the farmers and help fight food waste.

And here is crowd farming in Africa (undated, penfieldpoultry.com):

South Africa is one country which does not produce enough chicken to supply its mass market. This has made us dependent on dumped chicken and because of this, Open Field (Poultry) has launched a (simple) crowd farming platform which allows anyone an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to ensuring we produce enough chickens locally while investors make substantial amount of profits in a short term.

Now then, since I have just written before this the short essay, "Farmer Neglect – Blame Not PH Govt But The University Of The Philippines!" (02 May 2019, Journalism for Development, blogspot.com), I am going to recommend that our alma mater UP Los Baños study the concept.

On second thought, how about crowd farming being modeled for Southeast Asia through graduate study conducted in the name of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture, SEARCA?

There is a new SEARCA Director, and I know he is a friendly fellow and intellectually inquisitive: Glenn B Gregorio, who is a TOYM awardee and an Academician (a member of the prestigious National Academy of Science & Technology). Before this assignment, he has been an internationally well-positioned  rice scientist in South and Southeast Asia, the Latin Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr Gregorio is an all-UPLB guy: BS Agriculture, MS Plant Breeding, and PhD Genetics. For more on him, read "Eminent Rice Scientist And Academician Appointed New SEARCA Director," Seameo SEARCA,  searca.org.  The acclaim in that headline is much deserved, if you ask me.

Naturally, you can include me in the crowd for crowd farming!517

Farmer Neglect – Blame Not PH Govt But The University Of The Philippines!

Our friend Jerry R Yapo shares the news that the University of the Philippines, UP, is now the 95th university in the world as listed in the Times Higher Education, THE, 2019 rankings release, according to ANN (Author Not Named, "UP Achieves Top 100 Ranking In THE Asia," 02 May 2019, UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, ovpaa.up.edu.ph). 

I'm a teacher, UP '65, BS Agriculture major in Ag Education, Civil Service eligible at the Professional Level. And I have been a science writer and Editor in Chief since 1975, or 44 years ago. So, watch me at work!

Now, what are THE's rankings saying? Here's a table from ANN (with my headings):

University of the Philippines in 2019 THE University Rankings
THE (Times Higher Education) Rankings	World**	Asia**
Overall Rank	–	38.1
Research (volume, income & reputation)	16.4	18.9
Teaching (learning environment)	21.7	24.2
Industry Income (knowledge transfer)	35.8	35.8
International Outlook (staff, students & research)	39.5	39.5
Citations (published references to published papers)	69.1	69.1
** Values listed from highest rank to lowest by Frank A Hilario

All these bits of data are confusing because the news says UP is now 95th in rank in the world's universities, and yet the table above, whose data I got from ANN's report on the UP OVPAA  page, does not have a World Overall Ranking and puts UP at rank 38th among Asian universities.

Never mind!

From the table above, I will note only 3 items:

(1)   Research (volume, income & reputation)

(2)   Citations (published references to published papers)

(3)   Industry income (knowledge transfer)

Note that the above table says that UP Research is ranked 16.4 in the world and 18.9 in Asia – that's sky high!

Now, I say Research must always pass the next stage, which is Publication – THE missed but should have included this item – because converting research results into publishable technical papers is required by the world of knowledge. That's why I put in parentheses for Citations (published references to published papers).

Now, that THE table does not show you that it is only from papers published that you get the values & therefore the rankings for Citation – you cannot get cited if you have not been published in the first place!

So, how does our UP rank in Citations? World 69.1 and Asia 69.1. Now:

Question: In Citations, why is not UP ranked World 16.4 and Asia 18.9 as in Research?
Answer: Because UP is neglecting the publication of technical papers!

There is so much research that UP has done in the last 111 years, but not much has been converted into technical papers published – and therefore, not much has been converted into popular information for the farmers.

And therefore, for the public and the farmers, there has not been much "Industry income (knowledge transfer)" from UP!

If there is one institution to blame for neglect of new and improved knowledge in agriculture by professionals – not to mention by government officials – it is the national university, the University of the Philippines!517

PH – Where Are The Small Farmers & Small Journalists?

The above image is the cover of the book Focus On The Small Farmer with the subtitle Proceedings Of The Seminar-Workshop On Coconut-Based Farming Systems Research & Development Thrusts, Cebu City 19-20 September 1985, published January 1986 by the Farming Systems & Soil Resources Institute, FSSRI, of UP Los Baños, and edited by Frank A Hilario, who also typed & retyped all the pages that went to press – Hiyas Press if I remember right – using an IBM Selectric III typewriter with interchangeable balls. I must tell you I proofread each page exactly 9 times – I was counting. I wanted it perfect. The title is mine. The book is 140 pages total including covers, set in 10 pt Times Roman, so how many pages was that in the original typewritten copy? It was hard work, but I have never been anyone to shirk hard work when it comes to communication for the public good. 

When the book came out, I said to myself, "There must be a better way to produce a book!" Faster, less exhausting, and more accurate. And there it was – I saw a personal computer in the office of the secretary of FSSRI Director Elpidio "Pids" L Rosario. I asked Pids to tell the girl to teach me, and he did. And that is how I learned to use the PC with WordStar 1 as the application, app. I remember the exact date when I began my WordStar lessons: 28 December 1985, Innocents Day.

If you have not guessed by now, there are 2 lessons I am about to teach any aggie journalist out there:

(1)   Learning to use PC apps for information & communication technology, ICT, projects & activities

(2)   Focusing on small farmers.

In ICT, I notice that even the award-winning journalists who are members of the association Philippine Agricultural Journalists, PAJ, are neither here nor there. I've never heard PAJ being productive in ICT either. PAJ is not focused on the small farmer.

Our aggie journalists are still practicing their century-old art of reporting the Who, What, Where, When, How and an occasional Why, and are not concerned with inclusive market-oriented development, IMOD, the philosophy espoused by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, when William Dar was Director General from January 2000 to December 2014, when ICRISAT had me as international consulting writer. Under ICRISAT's IMOD, which came out with a no-nonsense 4-color 40-page publication called Inclusive Market-Oriented Development Annual Report 2010:

Inclusive means the poor farmers are part of the working system.
Market-oriented means farming goes from seeding to selling, field to fork.
Development means whole villages are targets of economic growth.
No one left behind, in poverty. Walang iwanan – awan mabati.

In his introduction to the IMOD Report, Mr Dar quoted Adam Smith, a pioneer of political economy (1723-1790), as saying, "No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable."

How can our aggie journalists sleep at night notthinking these thoughts!?517