Digitally Reborn – (3) ABS-CBN Helps State Colleges & Universities Offer Non-Degree Courses Aside From Agriculture

I continue to look at ABS-CBN (in denial), in the digital world, where it can make a huge difference.

Worldwide, consider applying for jobs: More companies are now putting more weight on the skill of an applicant rather than the college degree. Ellen Ruppel Shell says, “College May Not Be Worth It Anymore[1]” (16 May 2018, New York Times). And here are “8 Job Skills You Should Have[2]” (Youth Central): (1) Communication, (2) Teamwork, (3) Problem-solving, (4) Initiative and enterprise, (5) Planning and organizing, (6) Self-management, (7) Learning, and (8) Technology. (Above, superimposed, image of 10 skills now being asked for when applying for a job[3], from JVS Toronto)

So, I’m thinking of this giant corporation called ABS-CBN giving assistances, if only digitally, to the many state colleges & universities, SCUs, of the Philippines, in cultivating the skills of the youth in any of the fields in agriculture – without a degree, just simply a certification from any of the SCUs of a certain skill having been acquired within the physical premises of such SCUs. Such as any combination of the following trainings:

(1) Growing a crop;
(2) Raising a native pig;
(3) Processing cacao seeds into chocolate;
(4) Culturing honey bees;
(5) Preparing organic fertilizer;
(6) Business incubation;
(7) Work from home.

Growing a specific crop:
For instance, rice. Thus, we have the so-called System of Rice Intensification, SRI, which is very different from the way we Filipinos have been growing rice. SRI gives much higher yields.

Raising a native pig:
Native pigs are known to be resistant to disease and not picky with food.

Growing & processing cacao into chocolate:
Filipino chocolates are world-class in taste.

Culturing honey bees:
If you live in an open field, you can culture bees for their honey.

Preparing organic fertilizers:
Employing earthworms is only one form.

Business incubation:
This is especially for innovators, or those with new or improved products.

Work from home (WFH):
The trend now is mastery or expertise with applications (PC programs). With adequate assistance from ABS-CBN, SCUs can teach digital skills essential for WFH.

And Multiple Intelligences!

Digital ABS-CBN can assist the SCUs in helping the youth discover and nourish their individual multiple intelligences, MI, as according to Harvard professor Howard Gardner. Here are the 9 Multiple Intelligences:

(1) bodily-kinesthetic – body smart;
(2) existential – world smart;
(3) interpersonal – inner-person smart;
(4) intrapersonal – other-people smart;
(5) linguistic – language smart;
(6) logical-mathematical – reasoning smart;
(7) musical-rhythmic – harmony smart;
(8) naturalistic – Nature smart;
(9) visual-spatial – perspective smart.

If you pursue multiple intelligences, you will see that there are no stupid or unteachable people – only people who have not discovered, or whom you have not helped discover – their individual intelligence, where they happen to be very good at.

Digital skills rather than degrees. MI could be the start of multiple learning & earning genres, not to mention games, all digital. In any field, including agriculture.

ABS-CBN, you must be learning to be very good at digital. Nobody else is!@517

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[1]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/opinion/college-useful-cost-jobs.html
[2]https://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/jobs-and-careers/plan-your-career/8-job-skills-you-should-have
[3]https://www.jvstoronto.org/blog/10-skills-that-employers-are-looking-for-in-2020/

Philippines & The Return Of The Natives

Today, while I know the Department of Agriculture, DA, of my country the Philippines, has been and continues doing its best to contain the devastation of the African swine fever, ASF, and minimizing piggery losses all over the archipelago, I embark on a journey of nativitization – my invention, to mean going back to the native habits and habitats:

To counterbalance the debilitating force of the foreign invader ASF, I’m thinking of the DA embarking on the rehabilitating force of The Return Of The Natives.

Under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, the DA must now cultivate what I call the Asian Swine Fervor, ASF², piggeries raising any of the Philippine native pigs, the best under the circumstances: not picky with food or feed; are hardy, resistant to pests & diseases, and most of all have meats more delicious than any of the imported porks!

And of course, you are sure that the animal has not been slaughtered because it got sick with the African swine fever.

The strains/lines of Philippine swine I know are from the provinces of Abra, Kalinga, Marinduque, Mt Province, Pangasinan, Quezon, and Zambales. And how come I know all those? I just happened to be the editor and producer of the book titled Philippine Native Animals and subtitled Sources Of Pride & Wealth Worth Conserving & Utilizing, published in March 2016 by the National Swine & Poultry Research & Development Center based at Tiaong, Quezon Province. The center is under the Bureau of Animal Industry, which is under the DA. The authors of the book are Rene C Santiago, Angel L Lambio and Karen C Dimaranan. Mr Santiago is the Director of the Center.

Here are excerpts from the book:

Native pigs are known for their ability to grow and multiply even under adverse environmental conditions. They are budget-friendly and thus fit the economic conditions of small-scale farmers. 

The native pigs can (almost) raise themselves, as long as there are low-lying plants in the backyard or farm where they are raised. With their long snouts, they will forage for anything to feed on that is organic.

Yes! Philippine native pigs are organically grounded!

Locally available native foods include taro, sweet potato, water spinach, banana trunks & leaves, copra, rice bran, cassava, elephant yam.

Up to now, the Philippines is having heartaches with the African swine fever. The issue of 14 July 2020 of PhilStar[1] has a collection of news items on the ASF: “As It Happens: African Swine Fever In The Philippines” – the short mentions include what’s happening from February to July in Benguet, Davao Occidental, Ifugao, Kalinga, and North Cotabato. The African swine fever is not going to leave these islands anytime soon!

But take heart – we can conquer the universe of swine husbandry:

With our Philippine pigs:
Cheaper to raise.
Sharper to taste.
Healthier to digest.

Above inset image, charcoal-roasted pig, from Adobo Chronicles[2], with caption: “Filipino lechon may prolong your life.” Why? No vaccines, no antibiotics, no growth hormones. The food is all-natural, the meat au-naturel – the results, a healthy diner!@517

 

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/happens/775

[2]https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fadobochronicles.com%2F2015%2F06%2F15%2Ffilipino-lechon-may-prolong-your-life%2F&psig=AOvVaw2J6QfpMsTYkzuFCAeHYhNj&ust=1595060799236000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLjYhvDu0-oCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Is IRRI Taking Farmers For Granted?

Yesterday, how did I say UP Los Baños has been treating the Filipino farmers up to now? At best, half-ignoring their knowledge needs(see my essay, “Why Is UP Los Baños Visibly Digital And Invisibly Developmental?[1]“15 June 2020, THiNK Journalism, Digital). Indeed:

For Filipino rice farmers, UPLB has been
developing technologies,
but not developing lives!

Differently, is the internationally renown IRRI, based at the campus of UP Los Baños, any better in dealing with rice farmers in the Philippines and all of Asia? Not that I know of, and I have been in and out of Los Baños, where it is based. Look at the above image again – the cover of the 27-page manual Steps To Successful Rice Production (IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank[2]). I ask: “What does successful mean?”

So! After 60 years of R&D, IRRI has come up with a 27-page distillation of much of what it has discovered about what are the steps to successful rice production.

Is that all the rice farmer needs to be successful?
No, of course not!

If you say, “Well, it covers only technology, and promises nothing more. In that sense, it is a good manual.”

I will say, “Yes Sir, or Madam, it is a good manual – if you don’t know much about the growing of rice. Because the manual is simplistic. The actual title is “12 Steps To Successful Rice Production” – which implies that if you simply follow those 12 steps, nothing more and nothing less, you will become a successful rice producer. I say, maybe, but:

Rice farming is not simply the growing of rice!

That is why the Filipino farmer needs the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA, which I mentioned yesterday. That is why in 2003 I produced the OpAPA “creation book” titled Geography Of Knowledge, all 198 pages of it.

Sorry, but the OpAPA was not implemented properly, digitally. More so today, the farmer needs to know the whole geography of knowledge of rice – from seed to spoon – and follow-up the value chain, from production to postharvest handling to marketing, locally as well as internationally. If the farmer knew by heart all those 12 IRRI steps, he will still remain poor – unless he learns to be business-minded from beginning to end, counting costs and returns.

Indeed, not guiding cultivators of the soil beyond rice production, UP Los Baños has been shortchanging the Filipino farmers, and IRRI has been shortchanging the Asian farmers!

What would have OpAPA given the Filipino rice farmers? In my book, 3 words:

Advice on Options.

You don’t tell the farmer what to do – you give him advice. You don’t tell him how to solve his problems – you give him Options. You point out to him Opportunities. You advice him on how to overcome Obstacles.

For IRRI, it will have to be something like an Open Language for Asian Farmers, OpLan Asia. All encompassing, all digital, all interactive, all business.

Who told you rice farming is that simple?!@517

 

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[1]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/07/why-is-up-los-banos-visibly-digital-and.html

[2]http://knowledgebank.irri.org/images/docs/12-Steps-Required-for-Successful-Rice-Production.pdf

Why Is UP Los Baños Visibly Digital And Invisibly Developmental?

UP Los Baños, why does it not house the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture?!

Right at the entrance to the campus, 2 big electronic billboards confront you, left and right, open simultaneously and showing exactly the same thing. (image from Good News Pilipinas[1]) My question is, as a 1965 alumnus and communicator for science, why is UP Los Baños not in the forefront of supporting Secretary of Agriculture William Dar’s intellectual “New Thinking for Agriculture” – Amor Propio?

The answer to my question in my title is this:

UP Los Baños is strong in Communication but weak on Development! That weakness is self-inflicted – and more than 40 years old.

When I was the Chief Information Officer of the Forest Research Institute, FORI, in the mid-to-late 1970s, I published in the FORI Sylvatrop forestry journal a technical paper on Communication for Development, ComDev, which I presented as a theory in contradistinction from UPLB’s Development Communication, DevCom, the brainchild of Nora C Quebral. My ComDev emphasized communication in pursuit of development, while her DevCom emphasized communication left to the discretion of the communicator whether to support development or not!

So, I’m notsurprised that in the last 12 months, no publication or article published by UPLB or its any of its alumni has pushed for any of the following – I’m assuming the alumni know of their existence as The 8 Paradigms of the new PH agriculture being pursued by one of its alumni, the new Secretary of 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.

No, I am not saying that UP Los Baños is not intelligent enough to tackle any and all of those paradigms – which I have emphasized by maxing the list. What I’m saying is that UP Los Baños has notbeen paying attention to the developmental needs of the country, especially in agriculture, which is its field! Unpardonable sin.

By the way, in 2011, I was chosen “Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing” by the UPLB Alumni Association when Pids Rosario was still UPLBAA President. Since nobody else has received such an honor – not even in all of the UP System – now I feel I owe UPLB the pursuit of a creative project, even if it is not mine:

Enrich and implement the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA.

Actually, OpAPA was the brainchild of William Dar some 17 years ago yet, but it has languished for 2 reasons:

(1) The implementation was more mechanical than digital, so the speed was that of a turtle.

(2) It was neither technically nor institutionally supported by UP Los Baños. Nobody asked!

Today, we have friends in high places – William Dar has a PhD in Horticulture, from UP Los Baños no less.

I ComDev person now challenge the DevCom people in Agriculture to come out for Agriculture!

As for a budget, surely we can ask the DA. Ready when you are!@517

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[1]https://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/up-los-banos-readies-bio-safe-covid-19-testing-center/

Communitizing La Union Rice Farmers – In Union, There’s Strength!

There is the beginningof good news from the Department of Agriculture, DA, Region 1 based in San Fernando City, with Freddie Lazaro writing about a “100-Hectare Farm In La Union Readied For Community Hybrid Rice Farming Project[1]” (13 July 2020, Manila Bulletin). Communitizing (my word) 185 farmers belonging to farmer associations in Santa Maria, Santa Fe, and San Jose, Agoo, La Union is going to be a hard day’s night!

Mr Lazaro says:

The 100-hectare model farm was provided through consolidation by the DA Regional Field Office 1 (RFO1) while pushing forward the concept of farm clustering as a vital tool in leveling up agricultural productivity in the country.

Those 36 words I just quoted are already a mouthful: 100-ha model farm, consolidation, farm clustering, leveling up agricultural productivity… The perspective is that of DA RFO1; where is that of the Agoo farmers themselves?

Mr Lazaro says the farmers belong to associations – not my cup of tea. From my experience as a training consultant for the Department of Agrarian Reform’s project called “Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services,” ARCCESS (with UPLB professor Rene Rafael C Espino as Project Leader), I learned firsthand of the difference in the exercise of power of farmer groups:

To talk to a Farmer Cooperative, you have to talk to all or a majority of the members of the Board; to talk to a Farmer Association, you talk to the President - that’s how powerful he is.

Look at the above images again. “Farm size matters[2]” (from Grist) – not land ownership but economies of scale in operations. Circle of people[3] (from Pleaders), I imagine saying, “Cooperation matters.”

Now then, it’s not too late; I recommend that the DA RFO1 assist those farmer associations turn themselves into cooperatives, with members of the board comprising people of business, faith, civil society, as well as farmers. I am speaking as a long-time member of the board of Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative of Asingan, Pangasinan. In a cooperative, power resides in the people; in an association, power resides in a person.

Also: Our farmers need a modified ARCCESS for community connectivity & support services. “Ken, kakabsat, nalipatanyonsa ti market – asinno ngay ti manayon nga gumatang bagasyo?” Also, brothers and sisters, you seem to have forgotten to arrange for contracted marketing for your rice? 100 ha times 70 cavans/ha minimum to be sold equals 7,000 cavans to dispose of during any harvest. What about warehousing? You have to contract for institutional buyers – otherwise, it will be a buyer’s market!

Ladies & gentlemen, grouping is only the beginning. I know you will succeed – in production. Please look beyond individual farmers’ earnings – you must look at entrepreneurship of farmers and, from season to season, a sustained rise in incomes and therefore in the quality of lives of families. For that to happen, Masaganang Ani at Malaking Kita ay kailangang tuloy-tuloy – Bounteous Harvest and Bountiful Income must be continuous.

DA RFO1, your farmer clustering idea is an excellent start. I’ll be watching you!@517

 

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/13/100-hectare-farm-in-la-union-readied-for-community-hybrid-rice-farming-project/?fbclid=IwAR3I1N0F1xTWsu9XG-XAekvUeCfptjELxEZIwxVirDEh1B20EFm60XE_GWY

[2]https://grist.org/food/what-farm-cooperatives-can-do-for-the-food-system-and-farmers/

[3]https://blog.ipleaders.in/how-to-set-up-a-multi-state-cooperative-society/

PH As The Go Lag Archipelago When It Comes To New Knowledge In Agriculture!

In the Philippines, in Agriculture, how far do you think is the Researcher’s Lab from the Farmer’s Field? 

Too far!

The Philippines is the Go Lag Archipelago in the matter of publishing papers in technical journals in agriculture – because Editors In Chief don’t care enough for readers! This is your Editor In Chief speaking.

Actually, there are 2 lags: (1) from Research to Publication, and (2) from Publication to Extension. (images from Go Lag Book & Ride[1], PH map[2] Fine Art America)

The problem of lag lies mostly in aggie universities, including UP Los Baños, the #1 aggie university in the Philippines:

Technical publication is neglected;
Popularization is neglected;
Extension is neglected!

Today, via Facebook sharing, I am reading Glenn B Gregorio’s with co-author Rico C Ancog’s technical paper published in the Central Mindanao University Journal of Science of 02 July 2020: “Food Security Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic: Research And Development Priorities For Higher Education Institutions In The Philippines And Southeast Asia.” Mr Gregorio is SEARCA Director, so I will refer to it as the SEARCA paper.

I note especially this from the paper:

“The need to ensure that research efforts would have significant societal impacts is a philosophy that must be widely upheld.”

We must publish research, popularize the technical, and extend the knowledge so farmers can apply it.

As past Editor In Chief of many a PH technical publication, the twin problems I have seen are:

(1) Few researches are published in technical journals.
(2) Few research results are transformed into popular-language articles understandable by non-scientists.

Of the twin needs, the SEARCA paper says:

Scientists’ ability to tell the individual stories learned from their researches (is) invaluable for the general public to appreciate the value of science-based decision(-)making.

Scientists must relate experimental experience to field experience so farmers can decide for themselves what to do with new or improved knowledge. Nothing is automatic – no matter how good, knowledge does not apply itself!

Research results must be applied. Excellence is useless if it lies dormant in technical publications, libraries, or steel cabinets.

Speed is of the essence. As the one-man digital band Editor In Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, PJCS, 2001 to 2008, from being late 3 years, I brought the PJCS up to the ISI level where the editors of the previous 25 years failed. I am surprised that the CMU science journal received that SEARCA paper, accepted it on the same date, 20 June 2020, and published within 2 weeks – very fast! The journal must know something other journals don’t.

Now then, I know PH science journals, including within UP Los Baños, take sometimes 12 months to publish an issue. Because Publishing is still in the Pen-and-Paper Age, not yet Digital.

So, Filipino farmers remain imprisoned by a gulag of inadequate knowledge. Borrowing from the title of the SEARCA paper, I say higher educational institutions like UP Los Baños must release our cultivators from Knowledge Insecurity into Knowledge Security!@517

 

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/golagph/
[2]https://fineartamerica.com/featured/philippines-watercolor-map-style-12-greg-edwards.html

Digitally Reborn – (2) ABS-CBN Brings Palatable Food & Agriculture To The Cities

Urban Gardens Magazines. Plural!

My 2^ndproposal for ABS-CBN to resuscitate itself. Publish digital gardening magazines for the cities. Different magazines for fruits, flowers, ornamentals, trees, vegetables. All digital. Chic but cheap. Print on demand.

Above, on a US magazine, the main image says “Grow your own food[1]” (from LookBookReport). As caption to the inset image, Anna Bueno of CNN Philippines asks, “Can urban gardening flourish in Manila?” My answer: “Manilans must learn good urban gardening.” Easily digitally. I have already suggested Turning Agriculture into Digital – see “Digitally Reborn – (1) ABS-CBN Brings Digestible Science To The Farms & Homes[2]” (17 July 2020, THiNK Journalism, Digital).

I’m speaking from verifiable experience, and I alone can make the claim you can read as tagline to my blog Creative Thinkering:

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

That blog alone contains 1K plus essays of a minimum 1,000 words each, different topics.

What can ABS-CBN do now digitally? I recommend for it to create a digital company of bloggers, to which I will be willingly The Blogfather.

The Write Company of ABS-CBN.

All-digital, yes. Some 57 blog-magazines would be easy given the number of garden crops to work with, native and exotic. All digital – print editions at the expense of those who contract The Write Company.

How will ABS-CBN check me out when nobody knows me? Easy! Google for these blogs of mine:

THiNK Journalism, Digital, blogspot.com (reeducating Filipino journalists away from negative towards true, helpful, inspiring, necessary & kind, or THiNK Stories – a revolutionary idea)

A Magazine Called Love, blogspot.com (a rich hodgepodge of essays)
Creative Thinkering, blogspot.com (all about creative thinking & writing)
Pinoy Cinderella, blogspot.com (all about Charice Pempengco)
ICRISAT watch, blogspot.com

The last one is all about the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, which was/is based in India. ABS-CBN can ask Secretary of Agriculture William Dar who was Director General of ICRISAT when he hired me as international consulting writer, work from home, WFH, blogging from 2000 to 2014.

All in all, I have written and blogged some 6 million words or 6,000 articles/essays, each article a proper essay and not simply hodgepodge of paragraphs thrown in. So I should know whereof I write. About the art and science mostly of Agriculture and Creative Thinking/Writing.

For The Write Company, I will manage for ABS-CBN as Editor In Chief & Publisher. As Editor In Chief I will serve, when necessary, as Author’s Editor, to actively help a writer become the best writer s/he can be – from creative thinking to creative writing.

An agriculturist and a writer, I am volunteering to be to mentor the young staff from gathering background materials to desktop publishing. All digital. All WFH.

Naturally, The Write Company can also produce for ABS-CBN a digital magazine to serve its corporate purposes. Not to mention that any company can hire us to produce the corporate magazine the hiring company managers think they need.

Welcome ABS-CBN Online – at your service!@517

 

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[1]https://lookbookreport.com/review-the-loop-magazine-fb110ecbb0f0
[2]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/07/digitally-reborn-1-abs-cbn-brings.html