Healthy Farms for Healthy Foods

  It’s not theoretical; it is real, applied – and it has been applied and re-applied since the Ivatans, people of Batanes, learned to live with the moods & caprices of Mother Nature. Batanes is a Brave Old World such as it is. In the image above, “Batanes, Go Organic” is a slogan, but it only emphasizes what is true, working, applicable in this northern part of the Philippines: Self-sufficient, organic farming with root crops such as sweet potato, garlic, shallot, and onions. “Self-sufficient” means you have everything you need, especially food – you do not need any other food item in the menu. The Ivatans have no fowls or livestock – the birds and animals cannot survive the harsh climate. Says Alyssa Leyda-Aldemo (19 August 2020, “Batanes Go Organic Honors Ivatan Farming And Sustains Food Sufficienc y [1] ,”   Good News Pilipinas ): The sea-view farm at Naidi Hills has already produced more than 20 tons of agricultural products such as sweet potato, corn, watermelon, and a va

  “Businesses Urged To Gear Up For Digital Economy [1] ” by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez (29 August 2020, PhilStar Global ). And UP Los Baños will simply ignore this call of the times?! As a University of the Philippines Los Baños, UPLB graduate of 1965, as a nonstop crusading writer for agriculture & agroforestry since 1975, as a self-imposed indefatigable self-trained blogger since 2005, as a work from home, WFH, since 2007, I continue to espouse, among other causes, the intellectual contributions of my alma mater in terms of inclusive development for the whole Philippines. Above, the image of students protesting is from the Facebook 28 August 2020 sharing of UPLB Perspectiv e; [2] the image of field under research [3] is from Curtin University, Au. I believe the field research is more relevant to the Filipinos (and the Australians) than the student protests of UPLB. “UPLB Stakeholders Prefer A ‘Pro-Student, Pro-People’ Chancellor,” writes PB Yapjoco: In the search (

  In its website, ensia says it is “a solutions-focused nonprofit media outlet [1] .” Coming out with solution or option , yes, ensia, you have my admiration; but you have to start right . Start right where? In defining the problem! (ascending arrow from World Economic Forum [2] ) Ensia has come out with an opinion piece by Pushpam Kumar, “Pandemic, Floods, Fires, Hurricanes, Extinctions — Nature Is Telling Us It’s Time To Build Our Economy Around Inclusive Wealt h [3] .” Mr Kumar is the Chief Environmental Economist of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP – so I take it that the new concept of “inclusive wealth” is more or less acceptable to the United Nations as a good measure of the overall health of a country. So UNEP is now saying goodbye to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, which Mr Kumar sees is being replaced by Inclusive Wealth : How did we get here? By basing our decisions on a short-sighted measure of human well-being. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is co

  So stark, so devastating: “Why Filipino Small Farmers Remain Poo r [1] ” – the title of Fermin N Adriano’s Thursday, 27 August 2020’s column at the Manila Times . Mr Adriano asks: Why are Filipino small farmers poor? Why do they remain poor despite the fertile lands and abundant supply of fresh water in the Philippines? He gives 3 reasons: (1)    Low retention ceiling – must be 17 ha total for a family of 4 children. (2)    Farmer cooperatives not business-oriented. (3)    Extension work devolved to the LGUs, which are not prepared to do the work. Mr Adriano also blames local journalism that comes out in media that he claims are not as reputable as that of the Economist, Washington Post, and Financial Times, “whose pieces are well thought out articles based on solid research and analyses.” Reading that, I feel Mr Adriano is denigrating us journalists who are not affiliated with any “reputable” media. Well, I’m a UP Los Baños alumnus. A blogger, my journalism, for Mr Adriano’s

  Coconut farming is destroying 20 animal species for every million tons of coconut oil made. That claim made by Borneo-based Eric Meijaard has been debunked by Filipino coconut scientists (10 August 2020, James A Loyola, “Groups Debunk Environmental Charges Against Coconut Farming [1] ,” Manila Bulletin ). Mr Loyola says: Philippine coconut industry stakeholders, advocacy groups, and academicians debunked recent international articles singling out coconut oil production as both environmental and biodiversity threats. Victoria Espaldon, former Dean of University of the Philippines-Los Baños School of Environment Science and Management (UPLB-SESAM), finds the online post “generally a (haphazard) work.” She says, “The article is vague on whether it is the coconut oil production itself or that landscapes are transformed (into those of) coconuts as environmental issues.” Mr Loyola says American Asa Feinstein, a coconut advocate and CEO of Coco Asenso, debunked the claims primarily sour

Here is the UPLB Institute of Statistics Research announcement, Facebook 2020: August 14 𝗜𝗙 𝗜𝗧’ 𝗦 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬, 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬? How ready are UPLB students for online learning? What learning devices do they have? Are they familiar with various learning management systems? These are the questions we always ask recently. Let this research speak. The results will help the UPLB community face the battlefield in the first semester. Faculty members need to know the situation of the learners for them to create the most suitable course packs. The administration needs to work to strengthen the shaky foundation. Read on and decide for yourself. This study reveals the facts, the way to go is up to us. (This Editor says there are 2 grammatical errors up there; the sentences should read thus: “These are the questions we asked recently.” “Let the research results speak.” ) The problem no one is asking is this: “Where are the Teachers

From January 2007, after 13 years of blogging for Asian & PH Agriculture, today I am at the stage of my journalistic career where I am looking elsewhere for other advocacies and expressions of sustainable development. That is how I found on the Internet the book Media & Communication in Sustainable Development published by the Society for Education & Research Development, SERD, in Haryana, India (above image from the cover). It is a thick book, more than 400 pages, and there are more than 40 authors, an average of 10 pages each. I am not surprised, because “communication for sustainable development” is a new and hot topic. And next to the Philippines, India claims mastery of a second language, English, except that their variant is British and PH is American. The book is edited by Vikas Kumar & Pawan Gupta. Mr Kumar has a PhD from Kurukshetra University in Haryana, India, and authored 2 books. Mr Gupta is Director of the Army Institute of Management & Technology i

  Shared on Facebook in the above images, Pinas Forward PH makes a plea to celebrate “National Indigenous Peoples Day” on 21 June – late, but I just saw it today – and urge Filipinos to support and help these people especially in these pandemic times.I am a teacher; I am also digital, if self-taught; and that is why I took notice. One child is making an issue of a PC tablet for herself while the other child is dreaming only of a school for her tribe! Both are legitimate dreams. In these times, I am not interested in a 4-walled room you can call a classroom, only a free WiFi space where at least 20 different youths can study using digital tools like laptops, tablets, and/or notebooks. Granting that they have a proper curriculum where the wonders of the digital world are maximized, at least optimized. Note: “Where the wonders of the digital world are maximized, at least optimized.” Graduated as a high school teacher from the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1965, I taught my

Boldly, “Batac City Earmarks P100-M For Agri Developmen t [1] ” (Reynaldo Andres, 20 August 2020, PNA ). That is only for the rest of the year 2020. Priority areas are rice, corn and other high-value crops. I have yet to read another PH City doing that for her farmers. “Mayor Albert Chua said the city government is optimistic that the amount will help subsidize production cost of local farmers.” Batac must love her farmers that much. Actually, it is also a show of support to PhilRice in its obligation to increase rice production this pandemic times. Mayor Chua says, aside from providing mechanized water pumps, Batac is at the same time supporting the zanjeras. The zanjeras , from the Spanish word zanja , meaning ditch or canal, are communal irrigation system s [2]  (Carlos D Isles, “The ‘Zanjeras’ Of Ilocos Norte,” 04 November 2015, Inquirer.net ). Mr Isles says of them: The zanjeras… are a rich source of lessons in social organization, equitable water distribution, voluntarism, and

Should we go ahead with farm consolidation as Secretary of Agriculture William Dar wants? This policy of the Department of Agriculture, DA, appears to be in contradiction with the dictates of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, CARP, of the Department of Agrarian Reform, DAR. Nonetheless, expert Fermin D Adriano declares that CARP has been inutile, saying “Agrarian Reform Has Failed The Small Farmers” (20 August 2020, Manila Times ): Poverty incidence in the rural areas remains high at around 40 percent, twice higher than the average national poverty incidence. This means that despite distributing more than 5 million hectares of around 10 million hectares of cultivable lands in the country, agrarian reform failed to make a real dent on poverty and (promote) greater equality. Quote: “Twice higher than the average national poverty incidence.” Agrarian reform in the Philippines has utterly failed! So, “Agriculture Secretary William Dar has made farm consolidation or clustering a

I see Bruce Tolentino’s “Alphabet Of The Obsolete” Facebook sharing as 26 intellectual reminders more than visual or archetypal, historical. The list brings me back to 1975-1981: Antenna. Book, bookstore. Cursive writing. Dictionary. Encyclopedia. Film. Grammar. Hotel key. Ink. Jar Jar. Knobs. Landline. Map. Newspaper. Optical disk. Privacy. Quality. Rolodex. Stereo. Typewriter. Underage. VHS. Watch. Xerox. Yellow paper. Zip code. My wife Ampy and I got married on 18 March 1967, the birthday of her father Gabriel – but we told no one. We have since then 13 children, the youngest in 1990. Jump to 2020: I am The BlogFather, the one with thousands of essays in the Internet. I have always been prolific! From 1975 to 1981, I was Chief Information Officer of the Forest Research Institute , FORI; founded and was Editor In Chief of its 3 major publications: the monthly newsletter Canopy , quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop , and quarterly popular color magazin

If you are not constructing sustainable communities, what are you constructing?! Continuing my journalism for inclusive development of my country the Philippines, I must continue to pursue sustainability. Above: Environmental. Socio-cultural. Technological. Economic. Public Policy. According to the American think tank Joslyn Institute, these 5 domains must all be employed in concert building or rebuilding Sustainable Communities.   Joslyn says, “Many business and governmental leaders have been skeptical about placing any domain on a par with Economics.” And I say that if you don’t, Economics will gobble up any energies or efforts at sustainable development – and that is the meaning of Gross Domestic Product , GDP – where if you have a high GDP value, you have high development – but not necessarily sustainable development. In November last year, Agriculture Monthly republished my article “Appreciating Sustainable Development [1] ” earlier published last March. I wrote: So, when

Teaching 2020, we should be modern explorers of the low seas of indigenous knowledge and high seas of modern science! When I think of PH Schools, Colleges & Universities, SCUs, which are under the Commission on Higher Education, CHEd, I think of their contributions to Agriculture, which must not only survive this pandemic lockdown but thrive . And yes, it may be that the Hope of the Farmerland lies with the youths coming out as products of SCUs, college graduates and/or youth entrepreneurs. All the more reason that teaching at the SCUs must be restructured with the powers of the digital universe. The above image titled “Rethinking Teaching 2020” is by Torrey Trust shared by Ivan Marcelo A Duka on Facebook, but without a website to trace to. Thanks anyway, Ivan. I find that Miss Torrey is an Associate Professor of Learning Technology at the University of Massachusetts Amhers t [1] (torreytrust.com). Nice thinking, lady! I put in the image of a “Friendly WiF i [2 ] ” because that

Today, I must say PH Vice President Leni Robredo has inspired me in the way she has been playing her officially diminished VP role with style and substance anyway. (Oh yes, I voted for her as VP in 2016.) Here she is in effect lecturing Secretary of Education Leonor Briones on how to be a good Secretary considering that the coronavirus pandemic lockdown has revised the terms of educating the Filipino youth – while Miss Leonor has not put together the pieces to complete the puzzle. With her meaning-well thoughts expressed, Miss Leni must have advisers with good minds thinking about teaching! Good teachers are hard to find. Of Miss Leni, Bonz Magsambol says, “Ahead Of School Opening, Robredo Proposes Solutions To Readiness Issues, Teachers' Concerns [1] ” (13 August 2020, Rappler.com ); Miss Leni is a lawyer by profession, so she is careful with her words: We are, ultimately, united in the goal of ensuring the continuity of learning and the welfare of our educators. We submit th