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