Horticulture Lesson – In Growing Cacao & Coffee, Learn About Native Trees!

The text on the above image says, native trees like narra "Promote growth or biodiversity of the area (and are) food sources for forest animals, more effective in preventing soil erosion, (and) home to birds and other insect predators (that) protect nearby crops. (Also), wildlife, especially endangered species, prefer familiar native trees." Take note: Trees "protect nearby crops."

I am familiar with native & exotic forest trees. I was Editor in Chief of the Forest Research Institute, FORI, 1975 to 1981, and I had to study my Forestry very well – I am a graduate of Agriculture. Naïve about biodiversity, already I was a voracious reader, since Grade 1, more so that I was founder and Editor in Chief of 3 major publications of FORI: Canopy, monthly newsletter; Sylvatrop, quarterly technical journal; and Habitat, quarterly popular journal that I patterned after the American National Geographic. Not only edit, I had to read and write myself. To this Agriculturist, Forestry was an entirely new world for me, and I was happy to explore it.

In the image above, the bottom says: "RAFI – Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc." And I find that RAFI is into not simply reforestation but is into "Bringing Back Forests The Right Way[1]." That is, reforestation with PH native species, which are also good nurse trees for crops like cacao and coffee. Your horticultural lesson.

That news is 7 years old, but we can learn from the past. In FORI, I remember foresters talking and writing excitedly about the exotic mahogany and teak, fast-growing species, and lumbermen gladly planted them in "plantation forests." It turns out that those plantation forests were unseen enemies of reforestation.

"We emphasize real reforestation through native species," says Rowena Bandola-Alensonorin, RAFI's Executive Director for Integrated Development. Miss Rowena says the exotics make the soil acidic, thereby preventing the growth of other species – preventing ecological balance. The exotics are also susceptible to local pests and diseases, like the teaks at the Buhisan Watershed & Forest Reserve in Cebu being attacked by army worms. Exotics also have lower wood density and shorter lifespan. Whereas:

If native trees like bogo, malakawayan, tugas, lanutan and hambabalud, to name a few, are being propagated, they have high resistance to insect and disease attacks. They create different layers of diverse, healthy, and thriving vegetation underneath the canopy, which reduce the tunnel effect of strong winds and double the ability of trees in erosion control.

If for only those, nothing beats the natives!

I'm thinking now of Indai Le Cortes' cacao farm in Bohol. I can see the farm is very sparse with nurse trees. Miss Indai should learn from RAFI's Miss Rowena about native trees preventing insect and disease attacks, and protecting vegetation underneath the canopy, her cacaos, from strong winds. Because their canopies soften the force of raindrops falling, those trees also directly prevent erosion of the soil. And those trees become habitats for insect predators such as bats, birds, friendly insects and parasites – natural pest controllers.

Miss Indai, what else do you want?!@517

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/cebu-lifestyle/2012/05/19/808219/bringing-back-forests-right-way

Cacao DNA Test & Organic Agriculture Certification – Procedure Should Not Determine The Way Of Business

Organic food is richer – and so it is also pricier, and therefore worth growing.

Under the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, your farm needs a 3rd-party certification before you can label your farm produce as "Organic." The cost of certification ranges from P42,000 to P150,000, valid for 1 year[1].

Similarly, if you are into cacao farming, like Indai Le Cortes of Villa Cortes Criollo Farm is, to be able to officially claim that your tree is heirloom whatever, you need a DNA test, and the cost is also prohibitive.

Miss Indai shares on Facebook:

I want to announce to everyone that what I have discovered as "Possible Heirloom Cacao Trees" are not yet DNA-tested and my nursery, Villa Cortes Criollo Farm is not BPI-NSIC Registered (either).

All that I have discovered are certified by the Plantacion De Sikwate Cacao Producers, Inc, an association of which I am a member. We simply believe that those I have discovered are remnants of the Manila-Acapulco Trade because of the characteristics shown by their fruits and the age of the trees.

A claim is a claim, nota guarantee.

I think I do not need to be certified by any government agency because I do not bid for or sell to the government. Also, a huge amount of money is needed for DNA testing.

Indai has the same problem with our farmers who want to receive their Organic Agriculture Certification but cannot afford the yearly fee: minimum P100,000.

I say: Those who cannot afford the certification fee or the DNA test should be encouraged anyway – taking another route.

So, Miss Indai settled on calling her cacao trees "Possible Heirloom Cacao Trees." In other words, when you buy her cacao seedlings, you are not assured that the parentage is correct, that it is "Criollo" or whatever.

Miss Indai's decision not to pursue DNA testing is economic; our rice farmers can emulate her and decide not yet to pursue organic certification – but begin to practice the ways of organic farming anyway. If you want to be an organic farmer, you should stop applying chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides even before applying for certification.

There are 2 harvests a year. After the first season, you can sell your farm produce with the label "Naturally Grown, Season 1." Pursuing this line, your produce will have labels like these:

Naturally Grown, Season 1
Naturally Grown, Season 2
Naturally Grown, Season 3
Naturally Grown, Season 4
Naturally Grown, Season 5

When your farm reaches Season 10 – in 5 years – with no chemicals applied on the crop, time to apply for organic certification. It should be cheaper. If not, I buyer will settle on the Naturally Grown label. Food labelled "Naturally Grown" is exactly like chicken labelled "Free Range," where the field or farm soil may/may not have some residues of chemical fertilizers and/or pesticides.

In short, if you want to be organic, the need for certification should not be a barrier, like Indai is treating her cacao seedlings for sale.@517

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[1]https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/02/07/senate-bill-to-seek-lower-organic-certification-costs/

Sustainable Agriculture Begins With The Soil – Minimum Disturbance, Maximum Yield

This calls for a paradigm shift! 

Above is the upper half of the cover of SEARCA's first published Professorial Chair Lecture, by multi-awarded UPLB Professor of Land & Water Resources Engineering Victor B Ella, with the long title, "Conservation Agriculture: A Biological Engineering Approach To Sustainable Agriculture In Support Of Rural Development In Southeast Asia," with 64 inside pages, coming out in 2018.

Outright, I want to say this is the most intelligent research and report on what Mr Ella refers to as "conservation agriculture," that which I know fits perfectly into what I believe is "organic agriculture" – with conservation referring to the objective and organic referring to the process.

In the Abstract, Mr Ella says:

Conservation agriculture... is based on the principles of minimum soil disturbance, continuous mulch cover, and diverse crop species rotation.

Without consciously realizing it, Mr Ella has defined the organic agriculture that I appreciate and advocate. As I put it in my title: "Minimum Disturbance, Maximum Yield." The continuous mulch cover provides the organic matter that the soil needs to provide water and nutrients to the crops. The diverse crop species rotated ensures both natural pest control and farm productivity – and therefore profitability – for the farmer.

Mr Ella says other researches in conservation agriculture in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, "have provided empirical evidence on the benefits and advantages of conservation agriculture over plow-based crop production systems."

"Minimum soil disturbance" means no plowing, only boring a little hole for every little seed or seedling planted. And yet, as Mr Ella says, the results show that:

Conservation agriculture improves soil quality and crop yield, minimizes leaching of fertilizers and improves soil adsorption of nutrients, improves soil health, saves labor from land preparation and weeding, improves water use efficiency, and provides other socioeconomic and environmental benefits over plow-based systems.

Modern chemical agriculture, MCA, adds to the fertility of the soil but does not improve its quality. MCA improves crop yield but does notminimize leaching of fertilizer nutrients. Neitherdoes MCA improve water use efficiency. MCA is labor-intensive because of land preparation and weeding.

I want to add to Mr Ella's literature references, but not from results of studies. I know 2 of the best sources of unorthodox farming data and information based on personal experiences – and these are the books written by Edward H Faulkner, pioneering farmer of Nebraska: Plowman's Folly (published by the Oklahoma Press in 1945) and Soil Development (1952). Mr Faulkner's main thesis, in my own words, is that we must first grow the soil beforewe attempt to grow the crop, so that the soil can grow the crop well for our sake. He decried the use of the moldboard plow, which he said destroyed the structure of the soil first of all – why do you want to destroy the structure of what you want to use? Mr Faulkner's trash mulching gave a continuous mulch cover all over the field and, yes, he advocated multiple cropping.

For Sustainable Agriculture, I salute Mr Ela, Biological Engineer!@517

Innovators Expected From New PH Agriculturists – Secretary Of Agriculture William Dar

On 21 December 2019, at the Philippine International Convention Center, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie was the guest speaker at the oath-taking of 5,538 passers of the Agriculturist Licensure Examination conducted this November[1]. 

To you, "my warmest congratulations," Manong Willie told the Agriculturist oath-takers:

Ilang dekada na rin ang nakalilipas, ako'y kagaya rin ninyo na nangarap at nagsikap upang maabot ang aking mithiin sa buhay. Mga magsasaka po ang aking mga magulang -- Marcelo and Ana – mula sa Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.

(Already, so many decades have passed, I was like you dreaming and working hard to reach my goals in life. My parents are farmers – Marcelo and Ana – from Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.)

Being with dynamic young people like you whose heart belongs to the countryside always (gives) me more confidence about Philippine agriculture.

I writer now quote William Shakespeare who said, through Prince Hamlet:

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles...

Not farfetched, I would say. Manong Willie said:

When we assumed office, we inherited a sector that was in critical stage as it has erratically grown this past decade. Poverty remains high, and rural and agricultural in nature.

Yes, PH Agriculture is at a critical stage, brought about by previous lack of planning, especially today with the confusion immediately brought about by the long-term effects of the Rice Tariffication Law, RTL, signed early this year by President Rodrigo Duterte. As to the RTL, we have no choice, as PH is a member of the World Trade Organization, WTO, and has to follow the WTO guidelines.

How do you accommodate those thousands of agriculturists? My answer is: You cannot! A great many of those thousands will have to accommodate themselves.

Now then, what to do with the new 5,500 plus Agriculturists, not to mention the thousands of others in the past? I am sure Manong Willie will do what he can at the helm of the DA to help the young ones, but what should the young Agriculturists do? Like him, "Mangarap at magsikap upang maabot ang (kanilang) mithiin sa buhay." (To dream and work hard to reach their goals in life.) Good guide from a life well-lived; still, there are thousands and thousands who must dream and act in their own behalf.

Among other things, Manong Willie told the new Agriculturists about his "New Thinking for Agriculture" he is espousing, the first of the ideals being "Agricultural modernization." This is where I suggest the new (and old) Agriculturists busy themselves in understanding what it is and how they can contribute to level up PH Agriculture. Manong Willie is calling for new entrepreneurship, which calls for innovation. (innovation image from Forbes[2])

He is pinning hopes on the Agriculturists, new and old. The new DA will help the young entrepreneurs financially, but they will have to come up with their innovative ideas first.@517

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[1]https://www.thesummitexpress.com/2019/11/full-results-november-2019-agriculturist-board-exam-list-of-passers-top-10.html

[2]https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterbendorsamuel/2019/07/23/four-guidelines-for-success-in-innovation-in-digital-transformation/#17906a401aa9

Cacao & Permaculture – Thinking Of Agriculture, Don't Forget Horticulture!

Happily, I am consuming my 1 kilo of cocoa tablea (tablet) ordered from Indai Le Cortes' Villa Cortes Criollo Farm from Sagbayan, Bohol, the farm right next to Chocolate Hills. I bring 2 tablets to a boil with water, then drink it – I like it hot. I like the many health benefits too. Healthline says, "Cocoa and dark chocolate have a wide variety of powerful antioxidants... way more than most other foods^[1]."

About cacao culture, especially in pursuit of the New PH Agriculture espoused by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, who is therefore chief of the Department of Agriculture, DA: Now, the sense of "Agriculture" the DA is espousing is double: Agriculture, growing field crops like rice and corn, and Horticulture, growing garden crops like flowers, fruit trees, ornamentals, and vegetables.

Growing cocoa/cacao is not Agriculture but Horticulture, which is the UPLB doctorate field of Manong Willie. From a Facebook sharing, in the image above, Permaculture is close to Horticulture. With this one-line subhead, "Permaculture Is The Best Way For #Cacao," I see a big problem, and so I say, "Not so fast!"

Look again at the image, right – the population of plants is sparse, not thick. There are no shade trees indicated, and I know that cocoa, the source of cacao seeds for the making of chocolate, loves to be nursed by shade –  superimposed image from Chocolate Class^[2].

Lydia Hammond says Ecuador farmers grow cacao with coffee trees, as "Coffee bushes keep rain and wind from damaging the soil or smaller cacao trees so they’re worthwhile protection^[3]." Not only that – the farmer has 2 crops growing in the same place, one a buffer if the other crop fails. Plus Spanish cedar trees to shade cacao from harsh sunlight.

Oliver M Goshey says that in Guatemala, "Large-scale cacao, cardamom, and coffee (productions are carried out) in the shade of larger hardwood trees for the best health of each species^[4]."

Permaculture Ghana says, "Cocoa naturally grows in a forest ecosystem with other supporting associated  plants that maintain the soil fertility^[5]."

Michon Scott says the world's leading producers are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Indonesia, where "Cacao trees thrive in rainforests^[6]."

In a study in Ghana, Richard Asare, Bo Markussen, Rebecca Ashley Asare, Gilbert Anim-Kwapong & Anders Ræbild report that "A linear mixed model analysis showed that yields increased significantly with increased CC of shade trees" (CC meaning canopy cover), and in fact, there was a doubling of yields with 30% CC.

In another study, also in Ghana^[7]:

Researchers found that under a shade-tree cover of approximately 30 percent, shade trees had a predominantly positive effect on cocoa plants compared to areas without shade trees. This amount of shade is ideal for keeping pests and diseases in check while maintaining maximum soil moisture.

Note that the shade trees also prevent pests & diseases.

Indai, Horticulture is the way to go with cacao. Canopy cover, shade trees, nurse trees – or banana trees, your cocoa trees need them!@517

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[1]https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-dark-chocolate#section2

[2]https://chocolateclass.wordpress.com/tag/the-future-of-chocolate/

[3]http://blogs.evergreen.edu/terroir-chocolate10/looking-at-the-ideal-cacao-farm-through-a-permaculture-lense/

[4]https://www.abundantedge.com/abundantedge/permaculture-chocolate-the-highest-quality-anywhere-in-the-world-with-lorenzo-maniet-of-el-porvenir-cacao-farm-045

[5]https://permacultureghana.wordpress.com/the-solutions/sustainable-cocoa-farming/

[6]https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-chocolate

[7]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180518102749.htm

Jun Ledesma Is What Happens When Journalists Are Driven Only, While They Lack Data!

I was shocked to read "Don't Starve Our Farmers," Jun Ledesma's explosion[1]against the head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, William Dar/Manong Willie, that appeared 10 September 2019 on the webpage of Philippine News Agency, PNA, a newswire service of the government. So, this is PH government criticizing itself nastily and in public! 

Thanks to Mr Ledesma, I had to search, and I found the above Wikipedia journalistic paradigm[2]. He failed in Stage 1: Gather Data, so he could not proceed properly to Stage 2: Filter Data ... etcetera. What happened was Mr Ledesma's entire story is 100% based on Zero Data.

Mr Ledesma's first paragraph is all we need to appreciate, or deprecate, his "Dear Sec William Dar, Sir:"

You do not solve the problem of rice farmers by asking the local government units to buy their palay (unmilled rice). Neither will you be able to solve their plight by extending them palliative monetary dole-outs. You should not pass the buck to the LGUs. That is not their mandate. It is your office fiat. By passing the responsibility to the LGUs, it is obvious that you do not know the problem that beset our farmers and your office is bereft of solutions on how to address their plight. By giving dole-outs you are encouraging mendicancy.

Wow! Blasting all those 96 words, Mr Ledesma is acting like the 4th Magi from the South who comes bearing the gift of Incense. My measured response:

Jun Ledesma, you have not been up to data!

Mr Ledesma has neither been reading the papers nor browsing the Internet. I a science journalist by course and by choice, am unhappy to be writing this lecture of mine, but I love my country more than Jun Ledesma!

I have been immersed in the "New Thinking for Agriculture" presented by Secretary of Agriculture Manong Willie 5 months ago yet[3]; so I can see immediately none of Mr Ledesma's claims is truthful.

Manong Willie's "New Thinking for Agriculture" is not palliative, not passing the buck, not"bereft of solutions" – it is All Solutions. Except that those solutions are to be carried out by the whole country, including community journalists like Mr Ledesma – who must be paying attention beyond the confines of Mindanao.

Mr Ledesma, here are what Manong Willie calls "The Eight Paradigms" that must be realized into the new PH Agriculture:

(1)  Modernization of agriculture;

(2)  Industrialization of agriculture;

(3)  Promotion of exports;

(4)  Farm consolidation;

(5)  Infrastructure development;

(6)  Higher budget and investments for agriculture;

(7)  Legislative support;

(8)  Roadmap development.

And yes, the "New Thinking for Agriculture" could make good use of journalists like you if you change your thinking from negative to positive, from pessimism to optimism. Don't tell me, Mr Ledesma, that you are the second character in my favorite Oscar Wilde's verse:

Between the optimist and the pessimist,
the difference is droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut,
the pessimist the hole!

And I? I am The Eternal Optimist!@517

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/opinion/pieces/228--dont-starve-our-farmers

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data-driven_journalism

[3]https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/07/04/business/agribusiness/the-new-thinking-for-agriculture-4/578808/

In PH Agriculture, Moving Forward To Entrepreneurship, We Have Only Just Begun – William Dar

Newly confirmed Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has "My Wish List Under The New Thinking" 1st of 2 parts, in his column in the Manila Times, 19 December 2019[1]. He says, "This wish list applies not only for the New Year... but beyond."

To cut short his column of 1,000 words, I see and say the great many items in Manong Willie's wish column are commonly appreciable if we only thought of one word: Entrepreneurship. (entrepreneurship image from PNG Guru[2]).

Now then, here is my list from his list:

(1) Farmers must learn to be entrepreneurs, especially the young.

(2)The private sector must be more entrepreneurial in developing and discovering markets for agricultural products.

(3)The State Colleges & Universities, SCUs, must conduct their R&D pushing for entrepreneurship in the countryside – especially for young farmers.

(4)Community corporations must be formed, in pursuit of entrepreneurship from wholesale to retail.

(5)The DA old and new team captains must push for entrepreneurship in a modernized and industrialized agriculture sector, to make the Philippines globally competitive.

Manong Willie says his "New Thinking for Agriculture" was not born out of a Eureka moment but, "rather, it was a product of analysis on what should be done to move the country's agriculture sector forward."

Move... forward. "And when I say move forward, that means the agriculture sector must achieve a higher level of competitiveness or a modernized and industrialized state teeming with wealthy farmers and fisherfolk."

We must have wealthy farmers and fishers; therefore, we must modernize and industrialize agriculture and fisheries.

Manong Willie says, "The drive to modernize the country's agriculture sector should not stem from government or the DA alone – the private sector must also actively take part in the collective action." The action must be in any of these "critical drivers in modernizing the country's agriculture sector — technology and mechanization, credit and enterprise development."

Not to forget the SCUs, with whose R&D should "actively push agripreneurship in the countryside because (the) SCUs are where much of the young blood for agriculture can come from."

To Manong Willie, the youth are extra special:

The ranks of the youth is also where new agripreneurs can be created, and since they are also tech-savvy and receptive to technology, they could also act as infomediaries for technology application.

Yes Sir! New or improved knowledge from adult and even senior scientists moved to the digital world to the youth, entrepreneurs and intrepid souls, thereby to "contribute to rural transformation or inclusive growth."

When Manong Willie says "inclusive growth," he means "inclusive development," which was the ultimate aim of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, when he was outstanding Director General of long standing, from start of January 2000 to end of December 2014. In ICRISAT's inclusive development, the poor farmers are not simply recipients of goodness but participants in the common undertaking – today moving towards "a modernized and industrialized state teeming with wealthy farmers and fisherfolk."@517

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[1] https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/12/19/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/my-wish-list-under-the-new-thinking/665647/

[2]https://www.pngguru.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-ytjqy