Healthy Farms for Healthy Foods

Louise Maureen Simeon quotes Secretary of Agriculture William Dar as saying, “Fragmentation, Individualism Make Philippine Agriculture Uncompetitive [1] ” (08 October 2020, MSN.com ): First, our farmers remain individualistic, unorganized and thus are not linked directly to markets. Second, our farmlands are small and fragmented. Me! Not We. Yes, individualistic – the kind of Filipino farmers that PH journalists keep on cultivating! If Inadvertently . (“Me We” image [2]  from Reason ) “You there, as a farmer you too, U2 will succeed if you follow this farmer’s example.” Note that “U2" is the very successful Irish musical band. U2 is Irish, became and still is wildly successful, with Bono as lead singe r [3] ( Wikipedia ). The truth is that since 1976, when U2 was formed, no other band has succeeded like it has, including The Beatles. Why am I talking U2 here? There is another historical development that has been actually limiting farmer success – the #1 kind of story that s

  The above image of PH National Hero Jose Rizal as  “The Happy Martyr” – my title – is from an original photograph [1] from Shutterstock.com that I painterized. You doubt Jose Protacio Rizal y Mercado was happy to offer his life – not simply his book – to his beloved Philippines? I learned that 13 years ago translating his valedictory “Adios, Patria Adorada” – here is the very first stanza [2] (30 December 2017, “Jose Rizal, UP Oblation & 3 Lessons For The Nationalist Communicator,” Creative Thinkering ): Adios, Beloved Country (Translation by Frank A Hilario, 2007) Adios, beloved country, EarthLove of the Sun, Pearl of the Sea Orient, Eden in ruins bad! I go give gladly my life shrunk and forsaken; And were it more brilliant, more fresh, more floral then, Would for you give I still, still I give for your good. Now you know your National Hero Jose Rizal better! The original was untitled; note that my title comes from the first line of the poem, which is the rule in a poem o

How can hybrid rice liberate farmers from poverty? Earlier today, Monday, 28 December 2020, I blogged the essay “BigHAni – With Hybrid Vigor, Hybrid Rice Can Light Up The Whole Philippines [1] !” ( Brave New World PH ). The Christmas tree glowing in red & yellow (see image above, bottom left) was my metaphor for poverty emancipation of farming families – that emblazoned tree just happened to be shaped like my beloved Philippine archipelago seen from above. My BigHAni is acronym for Big Harvests Always Advancing to Appropriate Nets Indisputable. It’s hybrid rice. “How can hybrid rice liberate farmers from poverty?” As both a journalist and an agriculturist, that is my question today even as I look at the above main image [2] , which is the logo of the “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty” celebrated this year on 17 October with the leadership of the United Nations ( UN.org ). The 2020 theme is “Acting Together To Achieve Social And Environmental Justice For All.” Th

Bighani – This Tagalog word means Charm. Synonyms: Seduction, Attraction, Beauty . My derivation, BigHAni , is acronym: Big Harvests Always Advancing to Appropriate Nets Indisputable . Meaning: High harvests, highly assured incomes. BigHAni: Again, calling the attention of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar as I truly am thinking of a rice self-sufficient Philippines within 2021. On Christmas Eve, I proposed, “With 2020 Out & Agriculture Secretary William Dar In, We Can Go After Self-Sufficiency In Rice In 202 1 [1] ! “ (24 December 2020, Brave New World PH ). Before BigHAni, I did not know that we Filipinos have a “public” hybrid rice variety – the Mestiso – in contradistinction to the many “private” or commercial hybrid rices. Mestiso was bred by the very public PhilRice? Actually, BigHAni is my personal proposal for a national program to attract more farmers to plant more hybrid rice varieties, for big harvests, for big gains. As a national program, BigHAni will distribu

  Hybrid rices are known to be high yielders, producing grains much, much more than inbred rices. If the growing of hybrid rice is sustainable, let’s do it! Well, is it? Let’s see! First, here are 9 hybrid rice companies in the Philippines in my list so far: a)    Advanta Limited b)    Bayer CropScience c)    Bioseed Research Philippines d)    East West Seeds e)    Long Ping Hi-Tech f)     Metahelix Life Sciences g)    Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines h)    SL Agritech i)     Syngenta Philippines. Among those, my question is: “Whose hybrid rice is sustainable in the growing?” (“Golden Rice” image [1] from Businessmirror.com.ph ) My “sustainable growing” is original. I refer to these 4 characteristics: 1)      Technically feasible – The hybrid rice variety grows exactly as specified by the company that has bred it. The yield is high as it produces many tillers and the tillers are very productive of panicles. This is crucial, because it is the tillers that produce the panicles –

Now I know why SL-8H, the favorite hybrid rice of mother SL Agritech Corp, is not selling much – because the mother actually stopped openly selling the offspring 7 years ago! Maybe the mother simply forgot about her child? It’s Christmas Day as I write this; isn’t this child a gift to the world? Above image: In the Philippines, SL Agritech Corp was selling the virtues of Super Hybrid Rice on the 11 th of April – and then it stopped after that single news item titled “Gov’t Welcomes Super Hybrid Ric e [1] . ” Year missing. You know what? I googled and found that that was 7 years ago yet! 2013. What happened? Wake up, SL Agritech! Already in 2013, you had good products: SL-12H, SL-8H, and SL-18H. Why did you discontinue your website SL Agritech Corporation at http://sl-agritech.com/ or simply abandon it? Me, I believe in inbred rice and hybrid rice. I guess SL Agritech abandoned its digital campaign for hybrid rice because nobody was buying online. I think that is because it did

   “DA To Pursue Systematic, Strategic Approaches To Further ‘Grow’ Agri-Fishery Sector.”  That is the title of the latest press release from the Department of Agriculture, DA. The paragraphs that follow count exactly 25 – by content, it really looks and sounds like Secretary of Agriculture William Dar is wishing every Filipino “Merry Christmas!” I don’t think he planned it, but I find it the most significant, substantive, solid and stimulating singular statement from the DA to us Filipinos about the Promise of Agriculture & Fisheries to this archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The very first sentence reads like a “summary” of the DA’s Christmas Wish for the whole country: The Department of Agriculture (DA) will implement key strategies to “grow” and fuel the transformation of the Philippine agriculture and fishery sector into a modernized and industrialized economic powerhouse. (From  Depositphotos.com , the superimposed image of the glowing Christmas tree [1]  is shaped like the Ph

The Department of Agriculture, DA, has just issued a press release, “Phl Agri Sector’s Resilience Paves Way To All-Time Palay Yield Of 19.44 MMT In 2020.” That is despite the loss of about 419,500 metric tons of palay to a series of typhoons in this growing season. Above, Mr Dar says: We owe this year’s all-time palay production (record) to the resilience and hard work of our country’s farmers, and strong support of our local government units and the private sector, who altogether contributed to attaining such remarkable feat. Not content, I look at the achievement as not simply an astounding record of harvests but as a challenge to up the ante and: Let’s go after rice self-sufficiency for PH within 2021! The same way we achieved 19.44 MMT of palay this year, I can see what I will call here the Rice Self-Sufficiency Squad – with the DA’s enlightened leadership; farmers’ hard work; local government units’ strong support; private sector’s robust assistance   – PH will produce enough

Agriculture needs new or improved science, technologies and systems in order to increase food produced for the country and indirectly increase the benefits to farmers. Now, this science requires that first it be published as technical papers by researchers so that it can be popularized by extensionists to share with the farmers. Now, these technical papers cannot be found: UP researchers are hardly publishing!  In the almost 10 months since the pandemic lockdown in March in these islands, what have researchers of the UP System done in the matter of publishing technical papers based on completed or promising ongoing research studies? None. Before the lockdown? Hardly. It’s the technology, desktop publishing, DTP – they don’t know. How do I know? I have been in and out and around UP Los Baños since 1975 when I became the Editor In Chief of 3 regular publications of the Forest Research Institute, FORI, now ERDB, in the upper campus of UP Los Baños: the monthly newsletter Canopy , the qu

“Agricultural Wetlands And Migratory Birds Living In Harmony” was the theme of the “World Migratory Bird Day 2020” celebration in the Philippines via a webinar held on 09 October 2020 sponsored by the Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands, SCPW.  (webinar image [1] from Eaaflyway.net ) The webinar was in partnership with the Biodiversity Management Bureau, BMB, of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, DENR; Ecosystem Research & Development Bureau, DENR; DENR Region 3; and Pampanga State Agricultural University. The outcome, as reported by ANN, was a recommendation to formulate a management policy and establish a multi-stakeholder body to manage the Candaba Wetlands. I did not realize that marshlands are important absorbers of carbon, sequestering more than virgin forests area by area. Director Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez of the BMB says (Jonathan L Mayuga, 11 January 2020, “Saving Candaba Swamp,” BusinessMirror.com.ph ): “Peatlands, mangrove swamps a

British Poet Mr Young warns you not to procrastinate. Filipino Blogger Mr Hilario wants you to procrastinate! To procrastinate is “to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or lazines s [1] ”  (thefreedictionary.com). Above, look at the map/island of Procrastination in the Facebook post of Bruce Tolentino (graphic by Gemma Correll, Evernote .) I am the world’s fastest blogger and the most prolific in Agriculture. A “River of Excuses” runs through Procrastination Island. I love it! It is the secret of my creativity. Procrastination is postponing an act. As a creative writer, I always do that – I do not write continuously . Along the way, many Procrastination moments I make. A Procrastination moment pays in terms of a creative idea or two. Procrastination is searching for more materials even if you are not in doubt. You need the thoughts of others if you want to be more creative than you already are. Yes, Procrastination is doing something else other th

  I’m looking at IRRI anew, at its second life, this time leading The Great Rice Revolution. With PhilRice. The image above is just the beginning. At this point in time, you have to admit it – IRRI is in the Twilight Zone. Or is it Purgatory? But there’s bright hope I see, with the news & photograph above shared on Facebook that “Green Super Rice Variety Surpasses 4.4 Ton Max Yield, Nets 8.3 Tons/Hectare In PhilRice Field Day [1] .” The post is dated 03 October 2020 and is found in the official FB account of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) of the Department of Agriculture, DA. The planting of this variety of Green Super Rice called NSIC Rc 480 almost doubled its guaranteed maximum yield per hectare, at 8.3 tons (125 sacks of rice at 66 kg each), shown in above photo during the Palaysikatan Field Day of PhilRice in Santo Tomas in Davao Del Norte. More than 30 farmers took part. The DA says The Green Super Rice Project is a collaboration of IRRI, the Chinese Acade