World Food Day 2020 – We Must Hunger Together, Or We Will Hunger Separately!

Above, in Manila PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar speaks at the “World Food Day Culminating Program” held Friday 16 October 2020 in the Bureau of Soils & Water Management building adjoining the main headquarters of the Department of Agriculture, DA, in Quezon City.

Also seen above is the theme of World Food Day 2020: “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our Actions Are Our Future.”

About food from plants, the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, says[1] (FAO.org):

Today only nine plant species account for 66% of total crop production, despite the fact that there are at least 30 000 edible plants. We need to grow a variety of food to nourish people and sustain the planet.

The world needs to grow more food – more in volume, more in variety; nourish better more people; sustain more meaningful lives. Together, from better actions come common, fuller, sustainable futures.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, who happens to be the Deputy Country Director of the UN World Food Program Philippines, Mats Persson, was of course in attendance. To me, Mr Persson’s presence signifies that:

Our world actions on the matter of food, since
they are our future, must be done in peace.

And to me, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar’s presence signifies something of value that is BIG. You see, Mr Dar is not a political appointee of President Rodrigo Duterte – Mr Dar is an all-around guy as national teacher, extensionist, scientist, research manager in the Philippines; and global leader of an august body, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, that he served for 15 years, 3 terms, from 2000 to 2014. It was he as Servant Leader who brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 in achievements (publicly measured in awards) among the 15 international agriculture centers under the CGIAR based in France. It was wonderful observing even from afar. I know all that because I was an  international consulting writer for ICRISAT 2007-2014, WFH, based in Manila.

“Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together.” Together. Yes, today on his second year as PH Secretary of Agriculture, Mr Dar is emphasizing group efforts in different formats, such as: farm consolidation, farm clusters, cooperatives, DA-initiated food markets in urban areas (“Kadiwa Ni Ani At Kita”), private sector and local government unit direct assistances in food distribution…

In his long culmination speech, after all is said and done, this is Mr Dar’s emphasis:

Foremost, before ensuring food production, we strongly believe our respective governments must first address the growing number of people being pushed into poverty.

The poor we have always had with us. He says rural poverty in the Philippines is at its highest: 30%. “We expect this level to further increase as a result of this (lockdown).” He recommends “to create employment once again, and crank up livelihood activities and stimulate consumption.”

In other words, end the lockdown of any kind: Now!
I say, we must be free to make this country great.
Our Common Actions Today Are Our Common Future!@

 

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[1]http://www.fao.org/world-food-day/home/en/

DevCom Is Passé! For PH Agriculture To Revive And Thrive, iComDev Is The Call Of The Times

Almost 50 years old, the discipline called Development Communication, DevCom, NCQ’s brainchild, has not caught up with the digital swirl of the world’s knowledge in science and technology. And that is why I offer my new brainchild: iComDev. (Images: above, the pile of words comes from Indev Jobs; “CDC” image[1] from UPLB DevCom webpage)

Think Internet. In iComDev, the i puts digital intelligence into communication for development, so now you can disseminate it anywhere instantly.

A little history. I was physically on the campus of the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture, UPCA, now UP Los Baños, from 1959 to 1966 – I taught in Xavier University College of Agriculture in Cagayan De Oro City in 1968-1969. I was out of (touch of) UP Los Baños up to 1974; so I did not know Nora C Quebral, NCQ, gave birth to DevCom[2] in 1971 (Wikipedia).

In April 1975, I became the Chief Information Officer (not the title) of the Forest Research Institute, FORI, where from 1975 to 1981, I was the founder and Editor In Chief of 3 regular FORI publications: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular color magazine Habitat. Being a wide reader, I had read about DevCom and reacted by writing a technical paper that I published in Sylvatrop about Communication for Development, ComDev. The name and acronym were intentionally the opposites of NCQ’s Development Communication and DevCom. At that time, I already had accumulated too much communication experience not to know which is which and what is what for. So now I am resurrecting ComDev in the personality of iComDev.

For the record, here are some Guidelines for iComDev I have generated:

Communication: Communication is passing on any message in any form & medium from person to person either physically or digitally, directly or indirectly, on paper or onscreen.

Development: Whatever happens to help whole villages ascend Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Knowledge Base: In iComDev, it is by design that there is a database of knowledge, expressed in scientific terms or technical jargon. This is for those who understand the Science of Agriculture.

Popular Knowledge: This is the iKnow, which is in fact a popularization of the whole technical knowledge base. For knowledge seekers who are not familiar with scientific terms.

Options for Decision: The components of which are the raw materials for communication. The iKnow is composed of options for action such as inbred vs hybrid, organic vs inorganic fertilizer, direct seeding vs transplanting, and individual farming vs cooperative. It must be emphasized that iKnow is all digital and accessible via the Internet.

Mother Language: Initially, the language used is American English, for the technical terms as well as the equivalent and/or translated non-technical terms. Later, the knowledge base in popular English will be translated into several Filipino languages such as Tagalog, Ilocano, Bicolano, and Waray.

With or without the pandemic lockdown, we should not lockdown knowledge – in agriculture, the best way to share it today is digital. iComDev!@517

 

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[1]https://devcom.edu.ph/

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_C._Quebral

DevCom, The Undiscovered Country

This is the story of DevCom so far.

DevCom is understood by DevCom people who underplay it;
DevCom is understood by Senator Imee who undercuts it.
I blame the DevCom people!
(upper double image[1] from Reddit.com).

As World’s #1 Blogger, I am saying DevCom Island in the last 49 years has been largely unexplored even by UPLB people who created it!

The Rappler report says (Bonz Magsambol, 14 October 2020, “Senator Imee Marcos Schooled About DevCom After 'Cute,' 'Archaic' Remark[2],” Rappler.com):

"It is politicians like Imee Marcos and her family, especially her corrupt parents, who have made DevCom relevant then and now," says the UPLB College of Development Communication Student Council. ¶ Senator Imee Marcos is under fire over her remark that Development Communication (DevCom) is "cute," "archaic," and "old-fashioned."

In the first sentence I quote above, the DevCom Student Council has a fallacious argument – that is argumentumad hominem, attacking persons: “corrupt parents.” Also non-sequitur, does not follow.

The second sentence I quote where DevCom is described as "cute," "archaic," and "old-fashioned" is perfect– I agree with Miss Imee 100%!

Nora Quebral invented the concept of Development Communication, DevCom, in 1971[3] (Wikipedia) – half a century ago, making it archaic! The sound DevCom is cute, yes, but the concept is old-fashioned because when DevCom people do practice it, their language is 50 years old. There is no distinct DevCom vocabulary.DevCom people have not come up with a certain style of writing or treatment that tells you immediately, “That’s definitely DevCom.”

Wikipedia has a list of 6 DevCom educators, all of whom I happen to know personally – they do not write in any distinct essence that may be called DevCom.

In 5 words, DevCom is “communication in support of development.” With that, I am sadly reminded that the DevCom people have neither defined nor explained what is it they mean when they say “development.”

Let me put it this way:

Development means progress towards prosperity of people in a social context.

But that is always happening every single day. What the DevCom people want but have been unable to articulate is that:

Development means progress towards prosperity of people in a social context – including & especially the poor.

DevComers are intelligent people; unfortunately, they never talk about the poor in society being necessarily included as targets of development.

Suggestion: Let the UP Los Baños people explore Secretary of Agriculture William Dar’s “The New Thinking for Agriculture” with those “8 Paradigms” that feed it. By the way, Mr Dar is an alumnus of UP Los Baños, with a PhD in Horticulture obtained in 1980. (Likewise, I am an alumnus, BSA Ag Education '65.)

Another suggestion:In writing the concept of Development into actual vocabulary and volumes of Communication of DevCom people, consider that:

DevCom must proVIDE – promote Village Development.

Thus, Development becomes a real, big new world for DevCom, not simply a vague word in the phrase communication for development. Repeat:

DevCom must proVIDE – promote Village Development.

That way, DevCom remains cute but no longer old-fashioned and no longer archaic!@517

 

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[1]https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/jbd11w/the_uplb_college_of_development_communication/

[2]https://www.rappler.com/nation/imee-marcos-schooled-development-communication-remark?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1nXYz0U8eVYHhl_wlS2OJI21lW0EtXixdzjHnKmXUgb68Q9nFElEveZc0

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_C._Quebral

The Education Of Miss Briones. Otherwise, How DepEd Could Have More Wisely Spent P100 Billion Pursuing Learning Goals For The Country’s Students

As I write this, I’m thinking of the millions of farmers who need
e-learning themselves in modern productive and prosperity-leading materials and methods in their farming. 

Perhaps the DA can learn from the DepEd?

Above, you are looking at the cover of a printout of educational materials conceived for and published by the Department of Education, DepEd, under Secretary of Education Leonor Briones. (images: modules[1] from Philippine Basic Education; E-Learning[2] from Deccan Herald)

The “For Teachers” book looks good, doesn’t it?
Looks good, yes.
But looks deceive!

DepEd calls them Self-Learning Modules, SLMs – now, no matter how good the SLMs are, the almost-P100 Billion budget could have been spent 100 times more wisely!

This is a teacher speaking, BSA major in Ag Education, UP Los Baños 1965 graduate, Civil Service Professional Level, passing the exam at 80.6%.

And the grade I am now going to give the above Self-Learning Modules book is 4. Yes, 4. On my alma mater’s University of the Philippines’ grading scale[3], 4 is Conditional.

That is not saying the Secretary of Education is unintelligent – it is just saying that her advisers on e-learning are not that smart digitally!

DepEd’s Self-Learning Modules are the most
maximally expensive educational materials
I have ever seen – and only minimally useful.

Instead of being printed, the SLMs should have instead been uploaded in their digital forms for both teachers and students – and worked onscreen, not on paper. In such a way, the first attempt at learning could be graded; after which, with the original e-copies, any number of repeated readings and workings on same materials are free, to be counted as self-learning without charge against the students themselves.

More than 24.7 million students – 22.5 million in public schools – enrolled for 2020-2021[4] (ANN, 09 October 2020, “DepEd: Self-Learning Modules Are 'Quality Assured' Despite Errors,” ABS-CBN.com). As of the date ANN reports, 667 million SLMs had been printed. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto had the low estimate of a total of P93.6 Billion needed to print all the pages of the modules, at a printing cost of P1/page (Doña Magsino, 17 August 2020, “DepEd Needs P30B More For Printing Of Self-Learning Modules – Recto[5],” GMAnetwork.com).

Option: With that gargantuan P93.6 Billion budget, in a 1-ha area purchased in each of the 1,488 towns in the country, DepEd can construct an Internet zone-schoolshop (the cities can take care of their own) – that gives P62.9 Million for each Internet zone-schoolshop and should be more than enough for area, buildings, facilities, equipment, Internet connections, supplies and salaries.

With Miss Briones’ Self-Learning Modules that expand expenses and limit learning rewards, as a teacher, I want to cry. As a self-taught digital writer, editor & desktop publisher, I want to cry my heart out.

Reading and thinking of the P93.6 Billion the Department of Education, DepEd, will have spent by the end of this year 2020 for those self-limiting SLMs, I want to cry a river!@517

 

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[1]https://www.philippinesbasiceducation.us/2013/05/deped-k-to-12-modules-for-sale-in-2013.html

[2]https://www.deccanherald.com/content/639382/how-make-digital-education-more.html

[3]https://www.ac.upd.edu.ph/images/stories/forms/UniversityGuidelines.pdf

[4]https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/09/20/deped-self-learning-Modules-are-quality-assured-despite-errors

[5]https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/751678/deped-needs-p30b-more-for-printing-of-self-learning-Modules-recto/story/

A New Look At “The New Thinking for Agriculture” By Secretary Of Agriculture William Dar

For drama, look at the above image that I reproduced after reversing & inverting “New Thinking For Agriculture” and the “8 Paradigms” that contribute to its actualization. With the new thinking, the mind of Secretary of Agriculture William Dollente Dar, WDD, has to be able to discern things out at any order even as he goes around the country serving his people.

So, how busy are the mind, hands and feet of WDD? Let’s see. Here are random pickings from WDD’s Facebook webpage:

30-Sept-2020: WDD leads inauguration and turnover of Bado Dangwa-Guilayon Farm-to-Market Road in Tabuk City, Kalinga under the Philippine Rural Development Project.

30-Sept-2020: WDD visits Tarlac JelFarm, which will ship about 5 tons of okra daily as the harvest season begins. Come peak season, with full blast operations, it can ship an average of 13-15 tons everyday. 14 barangays of Tarlac and about 300 farmers are involved.

30-Sept-2020: Department of Agriculture, DA Regional Field Office 2 distributes at least 50 bags of Open Pollinated Variety white corn seeds to farmers of Santo Tomas, Isabela as prelude to farm consolidation and clustering.

01-Oct-2020: WDD formally turns over P24-million Small Water Impounding Project to Arapaap Small Water Irrigation System Association on September 30, 2020 in Allacapan, Cagayan.

05-Oct-2020: DA says buying price for dry paddy rice reaches P19 per kilo, at par with the maximum buying price set by the National Food Authority.

08-Oct-2020: San Fernando City, La Union – P36,105,000 already released by the DA to backyard hog raisers affected by the African Swine Fever in the region. Involving 1,069 beneficiaries, 7,221 swine head.

08-Oct-2020: WDD reiterates benefits of Rice Tariffication Law and Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, saying that these will help the rice sector regain strength and resiliency by increasing productivity and reducing production cost.

08-Oct-2020: In the “Food Security in the Subic-Clark Economic Corridor Webinar,” WDD explains underlying factors why PH farmers are not competitive and earning enough. “First, our farmers remain individualistic, unorganized and thus are not linked directly to markets. Second, our farmlands are small and fragmented. The saving-link is to organize them into cooperatives, and thereafter consolidate and cluster their farms to attain economies of scale, and thus be competitive. We will assist them to partner with big business and venture jointly into food value chain enterprises.”

08-Oct-2020: WDD and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte discuss the establishment of the National Urban Agriculture Research and Learning Center hosted by the City.

The above are selected actualizations of portions of the 8 paradigms of “The New Thinking for Agriculture:”

(1)   Modernization

(2)   Industrialization

(3)   Promotion of exports

(4)   Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms

(5)   Infrastructure development

(6)   Higher budget & investment

(7)   Legislative support

(8)   Roadmap development.

In short, thinking national and acting local simultaneously, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar must be wakeful all the time.

Something that bothers me as Mr Dar pushes for “The New Thinking for Agriculture” is I see no active journalistic support by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists, PAJ. Can I help, PAJ?@517

 

Where It Wallows In Poverty Amidst Plenty, PH Agriculture In Neglect & In Promise

No more poor farmers!

Easier said than done. “If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men's cottages princes' palaces” – Portia, The Merchant Of Venice

Coops to the rescue!
Because, as an English proverb says,
“Many hands make light work.”

Given the decades-old poverty problems of PH Agriculture exacerbated by the pandemic lockdown, given that I am an alumnus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, UP Los Baños, that I have been a digital-based crusading writer since 2005, and that I have been a member of the Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative for several years, I have been earnestly thinking of real & digital “Super Coops” as private partners of the Department of Agriculture, DA, in the national effort towards inclusivedevelopment, that is, where the poor farmers are actors and reactors, benefactors as well as beneficiaries of the theory & practice of agriculture. (image of many hands raised[1] from Filo Coop)

I first came out publicly with the idea of Super Coops 7 years ago (see my essay, “The Super Coops Of 2014[2],” 30 October 2013, Nagkaisa), pleading with Senator Cynthia Villar to author a bill towards “The Village Cooperatives Act Of 2014,” amending RA 9520 and creating a new Cooperatives Management Authority. Management, after Development. For inclusive growth of villages. Nothing came out of it, but I’m not giving up on the Super Coops – or Senator Villar!

Being a wide reader, in print and online, I know that our Secretary of Agriculture William Dar is the first chief of the DA, the first knight errant brandishing not a sword but a battle plan to conquer once and for all the poverty of Filipino farmers and bring them up to the level of prosperity – and stay there!

He calls that battle plan “The New Thinking for Agriculture” with its 8 contributing battles to be won that he calls “paradigms” – Modernization, Industrialization, Promotion of exports, Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms, Infrastructure development, Higher budget & investment, Legislative support, and Roadmap development.

I am looking at Super Coops as the mobilizer for The New Thinking from production to marketing of agricultural goods.

Overall, each Super Coop enables and ensures economies of scale in agriculture: mini, small, medium, and large operations. It not only provides the funds; it also provides the policies and procedures that must be followed by the farmer borrowers.

The Super Coop also sees to it that the new and/or improved theories and practices of Agriculture are implemented by the farmer members who borrow funds.

Not only production but harvesting, postharvest processing including warehousing, and marketing, are taken care of by the Super Coop. Absolutely no middlemen or any go-betweens are involved – the Super Coop works out contracts with institutional and/or large scale consumers all the time.

A Super Coop is the Business Manager of farmer members. They need it, as we all know farmers are still wallowing in the mud of usury without realizing it!@517

 

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[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65gZeAZPuRQ&ab_channel=FiloCoop
[2]http://nagkaisa.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-super-coops-of-2014.html

Loyalty Day, UPCA – Morphing From Celebrating 1918 Volunteers To Recognizing Modern Distinguished And Outstanding Alumni

You don’t know this, but on 10 October 1966, 

I was The Boy Who Cried Wolf that
changed the nature of UP Los Baños
Loyalty Day celebrations forever.
(image: boy shouting[1] from Epic!)

That day, I came out with an open letter titled “What Did You Do In The War, Daddy?” That year came out a comedy film with that title directed by Blake Edwards for the Mirisch Company in Panavision, starring James Coburn and Dick Shawn (Wikipedia). (title[2] image from Discogs) What kind of letter was it?

Ah, I knew it was a Labor of Love.
I wrote and typed my open letter “What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?” on my portable Olivetti Lettera 32. After revising, I cut the text on stencil and ran copies of it myself with the mimeographing machine of the Student Body Organization, SBO, at the 2^nd floor of Baker Hall, with permission of and under watch by SBO President William Padolina (yes, he is the one who became Science Secretary many years later). I had to tell him first what it was, and he did not say anything. Afterwards, I gave copies for him to distribute; with the bulk of the copies, I stood waiting by the College Gate (since replaced) welcoming those vehicles coming in who innocently accepted copy after copy. They did not know it was a bomb that reading the text would detonate. They did not know that

My letter was Anti-Loyalty Day!

Who suggested I write such letter? Nobody. The idea just came to me.

My 1966 Claim: The UPCA Volunteers of 1918
did it out of subservience to America!

Don’t forget: UPCA was founded by American scientists. On 10 October 1918, 193 students and 27 faculty members enlisted to serve in the Philippine National Guard (https://loyaltyday.uplb.edu.ph/). My open letter argued that those 220 volunteered for the wrong reason – the war was in Europe and America was not directly involved. Showing servitude to America, the UPCA loyals volunteered for the wrong war!

The reaction of the Cow College was revulsion against me – and so my appointment as Substitute Instructor in Horticulture was notrenewed the next semester.

I realized my open letter was also a Labor of Hate,
only many, many years later. But better late than never. It dawned on me that World War I was not a European war but Dictatorship vs Democracy. So each of those Cow College volunteers of 1918 was honorable and I was not – I had misreadhistory.

Sorry for that!

Still, my mistaken open letter had a profound effect I am very proud of, if unintended – that is, over the years from 1966, slowly the nature of celebrating Loyalty Day transformed from simply celebrating One-Time Volunteerism to

Celebrating the Continuing Loyalty of UPCA/UP Los Baños Alumni, and the Distinguished as well as Outstanding Services they do as well as have done for their fellowmen in office or society. Priceless.

Now, you can’t take that Outstanding Historical Accomplishment away from me!@517

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[1]https://www.getepic.com/book/30684711/the-boy-who-cried-wolf

[2]https://www.discogs.com/Henry-Mancini-And-His-Orchestra-What-Did-You-Do-In-The-War-Daddy/release/4677917