William Dar Confirmed As PH Secretary Of Agriculture – A Man Of Words & Works

His name is William Dar, but he prefers to be called Manong Willie, being Ilocano and approachable. 

As Acting Secretary of Agriculture, since 05 August 2019. 4 months ago, Manong Willie has been all over the Philippines, acting on many a problem in farming and fisheries.

As official, non-interim Secretary of Agriculture, since today, Tuesday, 17 December 2019, Manong Willie was sworn in by the legislative Commission on Appointments, CA.

Manong Willie knew he was going to pass through the eye of the CA needle, so he condensed himself into a thin but long line of facts, acts and accomplishments, from birth (10 April 1953) as youngest child in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur to poor parents, to retirement in high honor from being the singular 15-year long (3-term) Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, having brought this India-based institute from dead last to proud first among the 15 international centers in the CGIAR Group. They don't come more than qualified as they used to anymore. Katrina Domingo says somebody said Manong Willie was "over-qualified" for the post[1]. Say I, an ICRISAT international consulting writer based in Manila for 8 years:

Manong Willie is perfectfor the job.
He is a manager, not simply an administrator.
He is a scientist, not simply a technician.
He is a scholar, not simply an academic. And:
He knows The Man (embracing Woman) for The Assignment.

I positioned the double-image above to show as if Manong Willie is swearing to what he says are the necessary "8 Paradigms To Level Up Agriculture" in the Philippines. He knew that he – and we – have to change perspectives if we wanted PH Agriculture not only to survive but thrive.

Senator Cynthia Villar, Chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said in seconding the CA nomination[2]:

His appointment comes at an opportune time. To quote Lao Tzu, "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear," and I believe that the agency is ready to be under his tutelage.

Madam Senator, Manong Willie's is more than tutelage – it is stewardship, nay servant-stewardship. I being ICRISAT international consulting writer for 8 years, from January 2007 to December 2014, know that he went about his headship of ICRISAT insisting on servanthood along with leadership, emphasis more on the Team and less on the Captain. And so he brought ICRISAT from kulelat to kagulat-gulat – from wander to wonder:

And that is how he is going to bring about the rebirth of Philippine Agriculture from traditional to exceptional.

Manong Willie's team is actually a partnership that includes not only the DA but also the local government units, business sector, and civil society. Nationwide.

Senator Francis Pangilinan said in his cosponsorship of the nomination[3]:

(I) believe that Secretary Dar's background – both in his personal history and in his professional experience – would do well in the job for the benefit of millions of Filipinos who work in agriculture.

Personally and professionally, so do I believe.@517

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[1]https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/17/19/ca-confirms-dars-appointment-as-agriculture-chief

[2]https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/economy/719377/ca-confirms-dar-as-agriculture-secretary/story/

[3]https://senate.gov.ph/press_release/2019/1217_pangilinan1.asp

What Should Aggie Journalists Be Doing When We Need Them Most? Blogging Freely!

First, I read the news that Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie will be the guest speaker on 03 December at the launching of the Binhi Awards 2019 sponsored by the association called Philippine Agricultural Journalists, PAJ, and the San Miguel Corporation. The actual launching on that date was at 0100 hours at the conference hall of the Department of Agriculture, DA, in Quezon City[1]. I love what the DA news says about the PAJ:

Now on its 44th year, the PAJ is the nation's organization of agricultural editors, writers, broadcasters – (where each one) must be an "agent of change" and must serve as the voice of policymakers, researchers, farmers, and fishers.

Sorry, but as far as I know, none of the PAJ members or officers has become such an agent of change. Above, the PAJ logo itself suggests a laid-back group, stable, steady, no suggestion of Movement. No, they have not begun to talk about the new PH Agriculture in relation to Manong Willie's "New Thinking for Agriculture" and what he calls "The Eight Paradigms" to move farmers from poverty to prosperity.

Nonetheless, I can blame neither the PAJ members (of whom I am one) nor the PAJ officers, because the new thinking for PH Agriculture is as complex as the rice crisis we are experiencing right now.

But in fact, the rice crisis should be a trigger for PAJ journalists to be studying the matter and writing out their continuing stories.

Not free to write as they wish? To be free journalists, I recommend that PAJ members become bloggers and upload stories in their own blogsites. Easy. I can help them create their own blogsites, free. They will welcome the freedom of blogging.

Are the PAJ members ready for their modern digital role today?

They are good journalists such as they are, but in these Internet times, they are not digital!

No excuses. With digital, age doesn't matter, if you don't mind! I am 79, and I learned word processing, desktop publishing, and blogging all by myself.

If you know how to type, you can learn digital journalism, I guarantee it.

To encourage them, with proper funding from the DA for a 1-week intense internship at a resort-hotel near UP Los Baños, the Capital City of Agriculture, I can teach simultaneously 100 journalists via the wonders of digital media based on my non-formal awareness and abilities accumulated through the years.

Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 2019. Why me? Nobody but nobody can beat me – I'm not only a tutor but an inspiration, as I taught myself: today, at 79, if I can do it, you can do it!

The DA news says Mr Dar appreciated the PAJ's move to include the youth in the awards, "as this supports the DA program to encourage the youth to be active in agriculture and take over eventually from the country's aging farmers and fishers."

Picture this: Digitally, old & new PAJ members as change agents helping many old and young farmers and fishers!@517

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[1]http://www.da.gov.ph/gallery/2019-paj-smc-binhi-awards-launching/

For More Organic Farms In PH, Use The Miserly Ilocano Approach – Baknang A Daga

I Frank A Hilario am a full-blooded Ilocano. My grandfather Graciano has roots in Rosario, La Union. Today, I want to talk about how we can convince millions of Filipino farmers to adopt organic farming using the approach I call baknang a daga, Ilocano for a rich soil. No fertilizers.

The mage above shows a plant growing luxuriously because of the soil enriched by rotting matter surrounding it – this is the essence of organic agriculture that I know. The crop refuse and weeds die and give life to the soil; the soil gives life to the crop.

My credentials? In 1968, having studied the ideas of American Edward H Faulkner in his 2 books, Plowman's Folly (1943) and Soil Development (1952), with my degree of BS in Agriculture major in Ag Education from the University of the Philippines' College of Agriculture, UPCA, I taught Horticulture at the College of Agriculture of Xavier University in Cagayan De Oro City in Mindanao. In my 4 syllabuses, I wrote in the principles of organic farming: Floriculture (flowers), Olericulture (vegetables), Ornamental Horticulture (ornamental plants), and Pomology (fruit trees). One of my A students was Nicanor "Nicky" Perlas, who went on and graduated from my organic ideas to biodynamic farming and won in 2003 the so-called Alternative Nobel, the Right Livelihood Award, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Current slogan: "We honor and support courageous people solving global problems[1]."

First, I am thinking of a nationwide demo for baknang a daga, 20 farms in Luzon, 10 in the Visayas, and 5 in Mindanao. Second, I am looking at the billion-peso Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, RCEF, as source of budget for the demo, for seeds and equipment: hand tractor, trailer, transplanter, combine harvester, and bubble dryer. Third, I am looking at 35 of the State Colleges & Universities, SCUs, to be partners in this demo. I will personally visit the SCUs willing partners in the demo. With funds from the RCEF, we will hire Research Assistants to keep track of progress for 2 cropping seasons.

To build the richness of the soil, essentially, the first farm operation will be like this:

I will instruct the driver of the hand tractor to set the depth of plowing to only 2-3 inches on the top of the field, not deeper. This way, only the soil and the weeds plus any crop refuse will be cut to pieces and mixed together in the same rotary motion. All over the field, the mix of vegetation and soil will form a continuous layer of mulch – the beginning of the rich organic surface soil.

Writing in The Conversation, David R Montgomery says, "I now see adopting farming practices that build soil health as the key to a stable and resilient agriculture[2]."

The husband of my cousin Aida, Lorenzo "Inso" Casasus, will testify to that. He has been doing baknang a daga in the last 50 years!

Did you notice that baknang a daga has the acronym bad? This bad is good!@517

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[1]https://www.rightlivelihoodaward.org

[2]https://theconversation.com/healthy-soil-is-the-real-key-to-feeding-the-world-75364?utm_medium=amptwitter&utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR20LqHRkkPy4vDcoN9IWJrb33Q1RpsJiJtma9l6dsrdQRFCxGLg7srg-ec

Why Very Few Organic Farms In SEA? In PH, Inadvertently, NOAP Is Limiting The Growth!

Pamela Fernandez shares on Facebook that "Towns and cities in the (Philippines) are now mandated by law to practice organic farming." I click the link, and I find that it was Interior Secretary Eduardo Año who issued a memorandum on 20 May 2019 yet: "All local chief executives are directed to become members of the LOAMCP-PH[1]." The LOAMCP-PH is the League of Organic Agriculture Municipalities, Cities, and Provinces of the Philippines. This is all good news to me, as I am a believer in the Department of Agriculture, DA, under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie who assumed office 5 months ago. And I have been a believer in organic farming since more than 50 years ago, but it intrigues me that the DILG is more active in promoting organic agriculture than the DA itself?

In fact, if you look back to the image above (from the Asean Post[2]), you will see that:

The organic farming share of total farmland in Southeast Asia, dated 2017, is dismally low!

Philippines 1.61%, Vietnam 0.53%, Thailand 0.41%, Indonesia 0.36%, Lao PDR 0.32%, Cambodia 0.20%, Myanmar 0.08%, Malaysia 0.01%. Southeast Asia is a non-believer in organic farming?! Nobody is talking about why, so I will now be.

Is low ambition the reason for the low performance? In their long report "Organic Farming In The PHL: Leafing Behind A Chemical Future," Jasper Emmanuel Y Arcalas, VG Cabuag & Dominique Nathanielle M Muli of BusinessMirror say that our National Organic Agriculture Program, NOAP, has the target of converting 5% of total farmlands into organic farms[3]. Today, NOAP can report only 2%.

For the disappointing rate of adoption of organic farming in Southeast Asia I think I can give 3 reasons:

(1)   Insistence on organic certification, which is very expensive.

(2)   Insistence on organic fertilizer, which is good but not good enough.

(3)   Yield is lower.

It takes years, plural, to receive the Good Agricultural Practices, GAP, certification, because "it takes years to rehabilitate soil from chemicals" – Farm Manager Leni M Rebutiaco of Leonie Agri Corp whose GAP-certified farm is in Bulacan. That means even if you stop your chemical farming now, traces of the chemicals you previously applied on the crops or soil will persist for years. Your farm cannot be certified until then.

There is the expensive certification. Vera Ysabel V Dela Cruz, a staff of the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards, the certifying body, says the cost is P100,000 to P160,000.

In other words, to become rich, a farmer has to become rich first!

Even if PH subsidized the cost, the yield is still lower. I say that is because of the reliance on organicfertilizers. Instead, they should be building the richness of the soil the natural way – which I say is the real essence of organic agriculture. And who am I saying that? Ask Nicky Perlas, the Filipino winner of the "Alternative Nobel" Right Livelihood Award – I taught him organic agriculture in 1968 when nobody was looking!@517

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1087906

[2]https://theaseanpost.com/article/organic-farming-southeast-asia

[3]https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/08/22/organic-farming-in-the-phl-leafing-behind-a-chemical-future/

The Future Of Rice Is "Rice, Plus"

Some 5 months into the introduction of the "New Thinking for Agriculture" by new PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, it is not obvious to rice scientists, rice farmer leaders and farmers that, the way I see it (above, my photograph 20 March 2019, at boundary of Asingan and Urdaneta, Pangasinan):

The future of rice is Rice, Plus.

"Rice, Plus." Those 2 words are my attempt to summarize the Manila Times column of 950-plus words of today, Thursday, 12 December 2019, "Crop Diversification And The Rice Industry's Future[1]," of Manong Willie.

Like it or not, to survive and thrive, PH rice farmers have to be competitive with their Asean counterparts. They have to think rice, plus think beyond rice.

Manong Willie says, "There is a significant (number) of rice farmers who have little or no chance of improving their competitiveness." That is putting it mildly; I say most of our rice farmers are not competitive with their Asean neighbors, and they have to be in order to survive – today, to produce a kilo of rice the PH farmer needs P12.72, the Thai only P8.86 and the Vietnamese only P6.22. That explains why when PH imports rice, because it has to, the price of rice falls.

Manong Willie asks, "What is the future of the Philippine rice industry?" I say it is bright – if it learns to think Rice, Plus.

He says, "I am confident that in the next six years, we can bring down the cost of producing palay (unmilled rice) by as much as P6 per kilo from the current P12.72 per kilo."

The reality is that, Manong Willie says, "There are lands, while still viable for rice cultivation, (that) could become more profitable if planted to other crops." (italics mine) "One of the most feasible solution is for them to shift to more profitable, high-value crops." Note: "high-value crops." That is to say, our PH farmers could be raising less rice for our plates and at the same time raising more pesos for their pockets!

Which high-value crops? Manong Willie mentions vegetables, cassava, corn, pineapple, banana, mango, and nuts. "To shift to more profitable, high-value crops," he says. "This is among the major reasons why the (DA) is crafting the Crop Diversification Strategy."

Now Manong Willie, priest-like, marries farm mechanization with crop diversification, saying:

This is because certain machines... are "crop neutral" or could be used in cultivating other crops, like four-wheel tractors, one-hand (small) tractors, and irrigation pumps.

Crop diversification plus farm mechanization is part of the "New Thinking for Agriculture" that Manong Willie has wrought into the PH world of farming. With that, our farmers can be assured of "Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita" (much harvest, much earnings – my translation).

He says:

When I was in South Korea recently, I witnessed first hand how mechanization was instrumental in making that country's rural areas truly progressive, teeming with wealthy farmers and agribusiness firms.

We want PH rice farmers wealthy! But first, they must think beyond today, beyond rice; they must think Rice, Plus.@517

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[1]https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/12/12/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/crop-diversification-and-the-rice-industrys-future/663434/

Excellence Starts From The Top – In Education, We Have The UP Oblation Unhappy!

Of PH Mediocrity in Education, the UP Oblation is grieving! 

My friend Ramon Yedra has brought back to life the dead memory of the sad state of education in the Philippines, from below to the top, sharing on Facebook the link to the column of Ana Marie Pamintuan of PhilStar Global, "Culture Of Mediocrity[1]." That column is dated years ago, 2004, but the news is today; I am also reading today Janella Paris who says, "Philippines Ranks Among Lowest In Reading, Math, And Science In 2018 Study[2]," dated 03 December 2019. Which means we Filipinos have not lifted a finger to improve the state of education in our country when it comes to Reading, Math, and Science. Those are the results among Pinoy 15-year olds assessed by the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation & Development, OECD.

PISA says Reading Literacy is "understanding, using, evaluating, reflecting on and engaging with texts in order to achieve one's goals, to develop one's knowledge and potential, and to participate in society."

PISA cake? Haha. I am an alumnus of the University of the Philippines, UP. I do not blame the Oblation for grieving about PH culture of mediocrity – above, original image of sad man from Splice Today[3]that I have posterized here; mediocrity/excellence image from Conor Neill[4] – I do blame UP for the sorry state of education of the Filipino youth!

In contrast, PISA says, "the Philippines sees a strong relationship between students' socio-economic status and his or her performance in school." In other words, it is saying that when you are poor, you are poor in Reading, Math and Science. 

This teacher disagrees vehemently. And why is that? I point to the top: UP. UP is the leader – if UP does it, other schools do it. The UP System has made it nationalistic, patriotic to write and speak and even teach in Filipino (essentially Tagalog) – and how do you teach Reading and Math and Science in English using Tagalog? You are insane!

I am a teacher, BSA major in Ag Education, UP '65, weighted average 2.36 – not bad considering that several 5's were included in the computation. I passed the very first Teacher's Exam in 1964, yes, 1 year before graduation, at 80.6% – no reviewing. That is why, quoting Jose Rizal, "Anything about my country interests me greatly." Anything about the education of my country interests me greatly!

According to PISA, there must be reeducation of the youth "targeted at socio-economically disadvantaged students and/or schools" – meaning, we have to teach the poor students better. I disagree. We have to teach our poor teachers good teaching! Beginning with the professors of UP.

UP – For God's sake, did not our National Hero say the youth are the hope of the fatherland? If we do not WAKE UP and teach Reading, Math and Science in English for God's sake, at the Luneta we are going to shoot at the back Jose Rizal on 30 December once again!@517

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2004/05/05/248823/culture-mediocrity?fbclid=IwAR0r9VTw50wagnm45BUENZei4-uK48BuaNAyA40JEpxW9ICnr-X9JG6h1Wc

[2]https://www.rappler.com/nation/246422-philippines-ranking-reading-math-science-pisa-study-2018

[3]https://www.splicetoday.com/pop-culture/new-devil-s-dictionary-for-culture-of-mediocrity

[4]https://conorneill.com/2015/11/15/culture-by-design-or-by-default/

Muslim BARMM Is Teaching Us Christian Majority About Our New PH Agriculture!

This one began when PRRD signed into law the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, BARMM, on 26 July 2019[1]. (main image from MindaNews[2]) Importantly, "autonomous" means the BARMM will practice self-determination. 

And yes, we are today witness to such self-determination. Today, they are holding the "1st BARMM Food Security Summit, Organic Agriculture and Halal Congress" in Cotabato City, 10-12 December 2019. I'm interested in the first item: food security. That is because many people have mistaken ideas about it, and they are not healthy!

Before, PH was going after food sufficiency, meaning we did not have to seek friends abroad when it comes to food. On Monday, 05 August 2019, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie assumed office and PH Agriculture began thinking of food security. No, they are not the same. I say: Food sufficiency means you produce every single unit of food you need. Food security means you produce your best and import the rest; you are practicing the economic principle of comparative advantage – PH grows its best, and buys the rest from its Asian neighbors.

It turns out that BARMM knows better than us, the Christian majority. Not only about food security!

I am now browsing an ecopy of the "1st BARMM Food Security Summit" program sent via email by DA Senior Technical Adviser Santiago R Obien, SRO. On the afternoon of Day 1, today, there is the "Address on New Thinking for Agriculture" by the Secretary of Agriculture. I also note here that no other group has asked Manong Willie to explain such new thinking, and that in there are embedded "The Eight Paradigms." Exactly! If you have not been paying attention to Manong Willie or my many essays on the subject, you don't know what they are. The BARMM people are telling us they want to know what it is all about. They know something we don't! (Thanks, SRO.)

I quote now from the Overview Of The Summit:

The agriculture and fishery sector (has) had a major contribution to the economic development of the region... This has been made possible through the collective efforts of all stakeholders to promote a favorable ecosystem for agriculture and fishery...

"To promote a favorable ecosystem for agriculture and fishery" – those of us from Luzon and the Visayas are not talking in those terms! Whatever "ecosystem" means, we are not talking about a common ecosystem – we are talking only about our private ecosystem, or our group's. We want this, we want that; we need this, we need that. We think local, act local!

We are not thinking about what we can contribute to the new PH Agriculture; we are only thinking about what the new PH Agriculture can contribute to us!

The Cotabato Summit is looking forward "to the presentation of programs and projects that are geared towards addressing the challenges and bringing together support and agreements to pave way for a profitable agriculture and fishery sector."

You are insecure if you cannot think of a sector bigger than yours!@517

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[1]https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/07/24/bangsamoro-organic-law-primer-everything-you-need-to-know-bbl.html

[2]https://www.mindanews.com/peace-process/2012/10/from-rag-to-armm-to-bangsamoro-salamat-hashim-would-have-approved-of-bangsamoros-proposed-territory/