PH Media & Farmer Leaders Have Kept Pinoy Farmers Poor For 100 Years – We Should All Protest!

Pinoy farmers, arise! 

You have nothing to lose but your chains to
your beloved but misLed farmer leaders and
your popular but misGuided farm magazines & online media!

Those are the shocking truths, and it took me 13 years to see them and say them. Finally, the ugly aggie truths will set us free! (superimposed protest images from Vector State[1])

When I became international consulting writer for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, under the leadership of Director General William Dar/Manong Willie, who is now PH Secretary of Agriculture, I began to know about farmers not being able to escape the poverty trap, and I started to realize:

How our mass media kept our farmers ignorant, actually.
How our farmer leaders kept their farmers ignorant about the same things.

How? They were all ignorant of the same things!

We have to pity our farmers who have remained quite poor despite quite rich sciences, technologies and systems.

You if you do not help the farmers escape the 5-6 Trap;
if you do not help them escape the Marketing Trap –
then you as farmer leader are not a friend.
You are not leading them to:

Entrepreneurship.

I will repeat it because it is all-important:

Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship!

Your farmer leader never teaches and helps and guides and inspires you the farmer to become business-minded from seed to spoon, so you will never rise from poverty – your leader is not your friend.

Your favorite media will not tell you about cultivating entrepreneurship – the media is not your friend either! As in the above image, Business Diary Philippineswill not tell farmers how to cultivate not only their cashew crop and nottell farmers how to cultivate their entrepreneurship, so that they can rise from poverty and stay up there!

I say, farmers arise and demand that PH media be truly business-minded so that you can rescue yourselves from poverty!

I say, farmers arise and demand that the farm leaders learn entrepreneurship in order to teach the farmers in their groups so that they can escape from being the victims of usurers and merchants!

In the meantime, Pinoy farmers, I know the DA, under Manong Willie, will listen to your entrepreneurial requests. Ask and the DA will help each one of you become business-minded, income-oriented – providing you all kinds of assistances from acquiring good seeds to arranging mutually beneficial marketing arrangements with consumer groups or institutions.

The DA can work through what I call Super Coop. In 2014, I submitted a proposal to the Senate office of Cynthia Villar to file a bill to set up Super Coops all over the Philippines. A Super Coop is your multi-purpose coop fully assisted by the public and private sectors to help farmer members to mind their own businesses so that they can rise from poverty – and sustain themselves.

I say, it’s time for Pinoy farmers to picket the Senate to legislate for Super Coops now!@517

WHO Teaching About “7 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits” – Where The WHO Is The Enemy!

You know the WHO now, don’t you? They are the ones who made a mess of the world by missing out on the coronavirus.

Now I’m reading this WHO intelligence-related advice (Facebook sharing):

7 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits

     1.     Missing breakfast.
2.     Sleeping late.
3.     High sugar consumption.
4.     More sleeping specially at morning.
5.     Eating meal while watching TV or computer.
6.     Wearing cap/scarf or socks while sleeping.
7.     Habit of blocking/stoping urine.

Look at that! The WHO is not very good in grammar. (1) It should read, “brain-damaging habits” – hyphen necessary. (2) It should read, “stopping,” not “stoping;” “urination,” not “urine.”

You can say I violate all those 7 brain-damaging habits – except the 7^th. I have no such habit.

So I miss breakfast. When that happens, it becomes brunch, breakfast and lunch at the same time.

I sleep late, sometimes very late.

I drink coffee every so often, and it’s not black – it’s Nescafe Brown. I just love the taste: strong, sweet.

I sleep when I am sleepy.

I eat anything while I’m “working” using the personal computer, PC – it’s not work if you love what you’re doing!

Lately I have been wearing a cap at night to sleep because it’s cold, very cold.

So, WHO, what else is new?!

I am the world’s most published – blogged – writer online, non-fiction.

That 6-year old claim has not been challenged (bannered in my blog Creative Thinkering[1]):

World’s creative genius online, most prolific writer of non-fiction – Frank A Hilario.

In that blog alone, I have 1,000 plus essays of a minimum 1,000 words each, published in the span of 5,144 days, from 24 July 2005 to 24 August 2019. Which means I uploaded an essay of a minimum 1,000 words every 5 days.

So, where are your rules, WHO?

So, WHO among you is a prolific writer who follows all those 7 rules WHO has enumerated above?! I’d like to know.

Instead, the WHO should have come out with something like “Thinking-Enhancing Habits”;

     1.     Snacking between meals.
2.     Taking a nap anytime.
3.     Eating while working with the computer.
4.     Surfing the Web for anything and everything.
5.     Having coffee anytime and every time.
6.     Learning to stop at a draft, or revising.
7.     Learning to love the enemy, haha.

If you don’t learn #7, you will never be the best that you can be!

My first blog’s name was Worper, in Blogger.com. Worp is shortcut for word processor, which is essentially the tool for blogging, about 95% of it.

At 79, I still think writing is inventing. Not the field of WHO!

Today, I am more aggressive intellectually in what I write about – Agriculture and how one can contribute to PH inclusive growth.

Since 01 January 2020, I have been blogging every single day, but my essays are shorter, each 517 words (from Frank A Hilario). Now, I am more cohesive, more in control of what I say – and more biting!

From this Senior Science Blogger, WHO take that, and that!@517

 

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[1]http://creativethinkering.blogspot.com

PH Urban Agriculture – What Good! Also, How Good?

For the first time in my 79 years, this month I became aware of how much urban agriculture can contribute to PH’s national growth along with rural agriculture. Nobody is too old to learn. The source: Early this June had come out the 8-page SEARCA Policy Paper 2020-3 authored by Rico C Ancog et al. titled “Policy Imperatives To Promote Urban Agriculture In Response To Covid-19 Pandemic Among Local Government Units In The Philippines.”

Urban agriculture, or urban farming, or urban gardening. It is the practice of producing food in and around city areas; it can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry, beekeeping, and horticulture (Wikipedia[1]).

On Monday, 22 June, according to ANN[2], at the main office of the Department of Agriculture, DA, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar and SEARCA Director Glenn B Gregorio signed a Memorandum of Agreement, formalizing a partnership in establishing urban gardens under the Urban Agriculture Program, UAP, being implemented by the Bureau of Plant Industry, BPI, which is under the DA (Author Not Named, 23 June, PIA). Secretary Dar said the UAP is “one of the modalities (rendering) safe food available, accessible and affordable, while providing additional income to households and communities in urban areas.” He also said:

During this pandemic, we have to really secure every space and see to it that we turn this challenge into an opportunity for agriculture and food. I would like to thank SEARCA under the leadership of Glenn Gregorio for this opportunity to partner with them in promoting and pursuing urban agriculture in a big way.

On his part, Director Gregorio said:

SEARCA sees the importance of promoting urban agriculture to improve the stability of food supply, alleviate poverty, foster social integration among communities, and protect the environment through innovative and eco-friendly gardening methods.

Because of the pandemic, people realized the importance and the source of our food or the food system and (started) to appreciate how fragile it is and how important food security is. With this partnership, I think we will all the more link the academe, the industry and the government. With these three linked together, I think we will have a more sustainable implementation of the urban agriculture program. I think we can have a big impact at the community and the city (levels).

Earlier, I know that under Director Gregorio, SEARCA took the initiative of forging institutional ties with PH Department of Education, DepEd, to establish school gardens.

Among other things, the above SEARCA Policy Paper says:

Overall, it is necessary that people appreciate the multidimensionality of food as its value must not only be about its contribution to their overall physiological well-being, but also in terms of cultural inclusivity and environmental sustainability.

“Cultural inclusivity” – here, the Policy Paper implies we Filipinos are many tribes, so our foods are as varied. I love that it also mentions environmental sustainability – I take that to mean that when we grow our food, we should take care not to cause problems with the soil and the surroundings. I love you, SEARCA!@517

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

[2]https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1045587?fbclid=IwAR3lGpsNhGqBcR9Nrx7ufcT5CDuBpcbsRI1GMnsDYXe4OE73vETyXcAKaLc

High School Reinvented, Agriculture Re-Presented

Every once in a while, on Facebook, somebody asks, seriously:

Should Agriculture be made part of the high school curriculum?

My repeated reaction to that often-asked question had been: “Boring.” Now, let me tell you that I am an Agriculturist, a graduate of UP Los Baños, with a BSA major in Ag Ed, so I should be one of the last ones to not welcome Agriculture in High School.

(Images: Facebook sharing by Antonio D Torres; electric bulbs from Brand Reinvention[1], which I posterized; class scene from Brookings[2])

Today? Yes!

Now, how to offer agriculture in high school without boring the boys & girls? I reinvent High School. Reinvention means “the act or an instance of replacing a product, etc with an entirely new version” (Collins English Dictionary). The fluorescent light is a reinvention of the bulb, the rotavator a reinvention of the plow; and the Internet a reinvention of the library.

So now I have reinvented Agriculture in High School! AHS should now be the source of many Ohs and Ahs from high schoolers.

The most exciting news since the classroom was invented! Now, with AHS, the classroom is not a classroom (clash-room) but a plus-room, because suddenly the classroom becomes an exciting place for learning!

It should be fun, not work like digging the ground to make a garden. I am thinking of the Agriculture subjects in each year:

1^st Year – Vegetables
2^nd Year – Flowers
3^rd Year – Fruits
4^th Year – Landscape Gardening

The list is boring, right? Right! To make each class meeting exciting, here are some rules:

    (1) No structure to each class meeting

Volunteers will present materials for class discussion, that’s all. In any manner, shape or form. Wouldn’t that be exciting!

For instance: Teacher announces that tomorrow s/he will bring into class 3 roses (flowers). Why announce? So that if someone is curious enough, s/he will surf the Web about roses and bring to class the next day Questions (and Answers) – a student making the class exciting not only for oneself. If somebody asks, “What are those roses for, Teacher?” Teacher will ask the class who wants to answer the question. Ain’t that fun! And of course, anybody can ask, “What are the parts of a flower?”

(2) No exams.

Just the discussions, questions and answers, including attempts for answers – if funny, let the students laugh. The teacher should not ask any question to any student or answer any question from anyone.

(3) No failures.

Everyone will be given a good grade at the end of the school year.

(4) Specimens

Anyone can bring a part or a whole of plant. It’s the exchanges where everyone will learn something, the questions and answers (including attempts to answer) that teach thinking.

(5) Books and/or compilations

Not necessary to buy, just borrow from some library or somebody.

(6) Photographs welcome.

(7) Videos too if available.

It should be exciting, like visiting a flower pot daily and watching what has happened overnight. Like, watching a video and debating afterwards! It would make high school enjoyable too!@517

 

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[1]https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/brand-reinvention/
[2]https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/03/26/the-covid-19-crisis-and-reflections-on-systems-transformation/

Corn & Pesticides – In These Modern Times, We Should Be Thinking Olden Times!

Above, this Facebook sharing of Philmaize Kamais, PK, tells me that the PK people have not learned their lesson in history: They are living in modern times but are ignoring the living past.

The sharing says:

Pesticides guide for corn farmer. Beware FAW (fall army worm). Let’s keep our vigilance in our corn fields. May God bless our farmers, our country.

What follows is PK’s long list of chemicals to fight the FAW.

But why does PK begin the advice with Modern Control and not with Historic Natural Pest Management, NPM? Why make the Chemical your first choice when you have the Natural?

Now then, with the long list of chemicals to fight the FAW, I have superimposed the image of a trap crop (from Agripedia[1]) – all PK and/or any of those corn farmers has to do is look for a crop that attracts the armyworm more than the corn, and you have your savior of a plant – no chemicals involved. That’s NPM.

Why is PK happy to resolve the problem of the FAW but not unhappy with the unhealthy corn it is selling to people for their tables or their poultry or livestock – which of course are for people’s tables eventually? Chemical agriculture is for the chemical companies, not for the consumers!

Where you plant your corn, you should also welcome the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees. Planet Natural Research Center says that birds love those worms; also, there are beneficial insects[2].

Armyworms, or caterpillars, also attack rice[3](IRRI, Rice Knowledge Bank). This webpage says, “Flooding seedbeds is the best defense against armyworms.” Ah, but I don’t think so, even if that is a natural, non-chemical method. This website also says, “Avoid killing natural enemies of armyworms such as wasps and spiders.” Now then, if you plant crops that attract wasps and spiders, you have trap crops and do not need to use chemicals to fight the armyworms!

In the Ilocos Region, they intercrop rice with onion or garlic[4], and they are successful farmers, as reported by Rene Rafael C Espino and Cenon S Atienza (July 2000, “Crop Diversification In The Philippines,” FAO). The authors say:

The (Department of Agriculture) has adopted crop diversification as a strategy to promote and hasten agricultural development. As such, this paper presents crop diversification in two perspectives. One aspect is planting a cash crop after the main crop and the other is planting intercrops (permanent or cash crops) in-between the main crop, usually a permanent crop. This strategy helps attain the (goals) of the Department in increasing productivity and farm income, (not to mention) environmental conservation.

When they say “environmental conservation,” they mean not introducing foreign materials like insecticides and pesticides.

In growing commercial corn, why does Philmaize Kamais think of Chemical Methods to fight armyworms and not Natural Methods? The Chemical is at the expense of the worms; the Natural results in the loss of the worms and the gain in health of the people!@517

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[1]http://www.agripedia.co.in/Bestpractices/detail/5880aabc871f1
[2]https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/garden-pests/armyworm-control/
[3]http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/training/fact-sheets/pest-management/insects/item/armyworms
[4]http://www.fao.org/3/x6906e/x6906e0a.htm

Wanted: Workshops For Journalists To Understand Technical Language So They Can Write About Science More And Intelligently!

We need Italians to tell us what we Filipinos need!?

Above: A foreign journal has just published the results of a study with Manila respondents, “Challenges Of Communicating Science: Perspectives From The Philippines[1]” (Journal Of Science Communication, vol 19, issue 01, 2020, 21 pages), published by MediaLab of Italy. The authors, Kamila Navarro and Merryn McKinnon, conducted an online survey and semi-structured, investigative interviews, “to examine the challenges faced by local scientists and science communicators when publicly communicating science in the Philippines.”

And there, right at the conceptual stage of the study, lies the problem!

In case you did not notice, I repeat… “scientists and science communicators when publicly communicating science in the Philippines.” Those scientists and communicators are in the academic and research institutions – they are notmedia people. They are communicating hard science – they are not popularizing it!  ( (superimposed image from me)

We need to popularize science.

Since I am both a science writer and science editor, I’m interested in transforming technical language into popular language, so that the layman can understand and maybe apply what scientists have found in studies. This is notthe subject of the study reported, so the results are not relevant to me.

Even the University of the Philippines Los Baños where we find the College of Development Communication, DevCom, has not been conducting studies on how hard science, in the jargon of scientists, can be made attractive reading matter for the general public. I don’t know what DevCom has been doing all these years in terms of communicating science to the people, aside from conducting their own studies.

The researchers say, “Early records of science and technology stories in Philippine print and broadcast media are scarce.” Even now, I can tell you that they are scarce – probably all technical papers published in technical journals are not transformed into popular articles the public can appreciate and apply.

Their (respondents’) answers revealed issues which have been echoed in other international studies. However, challenges of accessibility and local attitudes to science were magnified within the Philippine context.

“Magnified within the Philippine context”? I doubt it. Scientific papers are the same throughout the world – very hard to bite into by ordinary molars (mortals)!

The problem in the Philippines, as well as in other countries,  is that there are no courses or even workshops that help communicators and journalists understand technical language so that they can intelligently write about what they read.

Yes, as the authors observe, PH media maintain science sections like Health or Technology, but these appear only once or twice a week.

Even Agriculture Monthly[2], a dedicated magazine published by Manila Bulletin, does not follow up findings in aggie research to translate into popular language. No, there is no PH publication reporting on the latest science for people to appreciate and apply in their lives.

Hmmm. I can be the one-man band writer, editor & layout artist of a science magazine if anyone has publishing funds. Email me: frankahilario@gmail.com@517

 

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[1]https://jcom.sissa.it/archive/19/01/JCOM_1901_2020_A03?fbclid=IwAR07iCsClh1MrtJBhBe83Q7GF5AEq-zO8Kok-6JV8bR2jFMele8MNmFxS3QArticle

[2]https://www.agriculture.com.ph/

“Happy Father’s Day!” The BlogFather

This is a reverse salutation – I The BlogFather am greeting you, “Happy Father’s Day.” Thanks be to God! Because right now I am the one to point out to you the gifts I already have, given by me to myself slowly over the last 45 years:

Any of which I can help you gift yourself, if you want hard enough!

Starting on Innocents Day 1985, when I began to be taught by a lady at the office of Director Elpidio L Rosario of the Farming Systems & Soil Resources Institute, FSSRI, of UP Los Baños. Thanks, FSSRI!

Dig my digital gifts:

(1)   Writing. I didn’t know I had this gift until I was a Senior in high school at the Rizal Junior College, RJC (HS Dept), in Asingan, Pangasinan, when I joined the contest to select the TagalogEditor for our would-be RJC newsletter. I won! Over someone who was a Tagalog, a relative of the owner of RJC – and so I told myself, “This is my hidden talent. I am going to make myself the best of myself as a writer.” I was already then a voracious reader of English literature (RJC Library), and Tagalog magazines, komiks (I bought).

(2)   Editing, Popular. Freshman 1959. Nestor Mn Pestelos won the contest for Editor In Chief of the Aggie Green & Gold, AGG, of the UP College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños – and he appointed me the Tagalog Editor! He knew I was Ilocano, but he could also see I knew Tagalog well, and so I became the First Ilocano Tagalog Editor you have ever known. 16 years later, when I joined the Forest Research Institute, FORI, I fathered the 3 FORI publications: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop on tropical forestry, and quarterly popular color magazine Habitat.

(3)   Editing, Technical. Continuing from the note above, I started editing technical papers when I was Chief Information Officer, CIO, of FORI. Including theses for Bachelor, MS and PhD degrees.

(4)   Desktop Publishing. I use Microsoft Office for this purpose – you will be surprised if you knew which application, app, I use for my DTP work!

(5)   Photography. I am an amateur photographer, starting 1968, when our first child Cristina Marie was born Yes, my photography is digital – I have a Lumix Fz100 superzoom camera with an Intelligent Auto, iA, feature.

(6)   Mentoring. You may not know, but I am a teacher. My course from UPCA is a BSA major in Ag Edu. I passed the very first Teacher’s Exam in 1964, Professional. Now I’m digital.

(7)   Blogging. I began blogging in 2005. I haven’t stopped since then. I have blogged more than 5,000 essays each at least 1,000 words long. Today, I’m blogging shorter ones, 517words each – the digits represent Frank A Hilario. (Ikaw na ang maging ako. Sikan a ti siak.) The beauty of blogging is you can publish yourself anytime and as often as you like.

 (If you have read this far, I am offering you a free one-time consultation with any of the above digital skills. frankahilario@gmail.com)@517